Blood Ice
by The Ocean Is My Inkwell
Summary: Book 2 of Magician of Fire Saga. Everyone thought Wynter had defeated Jasper and his minions forever. But he - and Kronos - have returned. Is Wynter, daughter of Hecate, the child of the next Great Prophecy? Sequel to Blue Fire. Percabeth. FINISHED!
1. Chapter 1: Dark Magic

**A/N: And now, the great sequel to Blue Fire! (*trumpet call*) You've all been waiting for this, haven't you? Well now, tada!**

Chapter 1: Dark Magic

"Dad. Dad, look."

My dad swiveled his head in my direction at the insistent tone of my voice. We were standing in the middle of the tidy wooden stable at the rear of Camp Half-Blood, and presently I was beckoning importunately to him to take a look at a row of horses near me.

These horses were of all different sizes and shades, but they all had one thing in common—they had beautifully plumed feathered wings. Their eyes were bright and intelligent, and even as they neighed and nickered softly among themselves, I could tell they were conversing about the new visitors. These were the pegasi.

"I'm so glad they're back safe and healthy," I continued with a sigh of contentment.

"So am I," said Dad in his deep, warm voice. I was still getting used to the wonderful warm tingle the sound of his voice always sent up through my veins when he spoke. I had known him for barely a week, and I still could not believe that such a kind man could be my father.

"I heard you had quite an adventure with these pegasi not too long ago, on your quest," Dad said.

I snapped out of my reverie with a visible start. "Oh yes," I stammered, "we were attacked by them while we were flying on the ravens that Imani Knight had summoned. What happened was, they had been infected by Jasper's dark magic. But at least they're safe—for now."

"For now," Dad repeated with a small sigh to match my previous one. But I could tell he spoke the words with a different tone, a different mind. He did not quite share my hopes of long, uninterrupted peace for the world of half-bloods.

I forcibly roused my father from his distraction. "Come on, Dad. It's probably high time we were in the dining pavilion by now. I just heard Chiron's horn a few minutes ago."

"Oh! Right." My dad flashed me an apologetic smile and hurried up the hill to the other side of the slope, thrusting his hands loosely into the pockets of his trousers.

As I took long, boyish strides toward the source of our lunch, I wondered when Dad would be going away again to L.A. Chiron had allowed him to stay at camp for a few weeks or so, just to watch over me and get to know me a bit more; but since it was not exactly the safest choice for a mortal to stay in a dwelling place of half-bloods, he would soon have to return home.

Dad obviously guessed my thoughts. (Sometimes I wondered if I had inherited my mind-reading skills from him or from my mother Hecate.) "Don't worry, I'll be here for at least another two weeks, Wynter," he assured me, laying a hand on my shoulder. "After that...well...I think I have a good idea of what I should do about our problem."

I glanced at him. "What's that?"

He grinned and ruffled my blazing wavy hair. "I'm going to move out of my apartment--our apartment--and relocate to NYC!"

I gasped. "Really? Wow!"

He chuckled. "Of course! You certainly wouldn't want us to be apart any longer, would you? Besides, it's only right. Everyone knows a young half-blood like you can't stay in L.A. for long without being mauled in some fashion or other by Furies or hellhounds or minotaurs and such."

I smiled dryly. "Hades sure would be relieved to hear that. He gets jittery when I'm around, it seems."

We shared a low, wry laugh.

I~I~I~I~I

_MY NAME IS WYNTER POPPLEWELL I AM 14 YEARS OLD I HAVE VERY RED HAIR AND_

_Knock-knock_!

I sighed and tossed aside my pen, shaking my aching hand. Slowly I rose from my creaking chair.

_Knock-knock_!

"All _right_, I'm coming!" I called out peevishly. I stuffed my feet into my worn blue flip-flops and shuffled quickly to the door, nearly tripping over the handmade reed mat by my desk. I groped for the doorknob, found it, and yanked open the door. And _he_ was there.

"Zac!" I scolded. "What in the world of the Olympians are you grinning at me like a deranged scientist for?"

"Hey, hey, no need to overdo the superlatives and invectives," Zac coaxed me with an even broader grin. He tossed his messy sandy hair from his golden eyes as he took the liberty of stepping into my little hut without an invitation.

"And I see no need to overdo the loony looks," I retorted, a smile twitching at my lips to betray my feelings. We glanced at each other fondly, and we both knew all was forgiven.

"What's that you're carrying?" I peered curiously at the heavy long, round thing hanging from his hand.

"It's my guitar. See?" He held up the sleek black case and popped it open to reveal his treasured black-and-red flame-decaled instrument. "I've had this baby here for three years now. And it still sounds good as new."

"Triton and tridents, why'd you bring it along?" I breathed, running a finger lightly over the finely carved wood panels beneath the flashy paint.

"I wanted to show you something."

"Oh?" I glanced up, cocking a brow in his direction. "What exactly?"

"Oh, just something I've been working on real hard lately. Here it is." He reached into the inner pocket of a rectangular messenger bag I hadn't noticed on his shoulder before and produced a not so thin sheaf of papers witha triumphant flourish.

I snatched it from his hand with a breathless laugh of surprise. I scanned over the patterns of black lines and sharps and flats. "Blast me to Hades!" I cried. "You're writing a song!"

"Yes, a song, but not just any ordinary song," he goaded me with a mischievously enigmatic grin. "Go on. I know you can read a bit. You can see the lyrics for yourself."

Slowly I traced the lines of words beneath the notes with my left index finger, mouthing them as I read them silently.

_"The sun goes round the world each day_

_It shines so bright at morn and night_

_But there ain't nothing, I would say,_

_As bright as the face and the sight_

_Of you._

_I see your hair, your hands, your face_

_I see your radiant smile from miles 'way_

_I watch you walk each day with grace_

_But what beats all is the smile, I say,_

_Of you."_

That was as far as I could go before my eyes tired, and I could no longer recognize the majority of the following words.

I looked up at him. "Wow. This is so beautiful. I--I don't know what to say."

He grinned. "You already said something."

"Oh, you!" I said, picking up my sheathed sword in mock anger. "You love to spoil the tenderness of every moment!"

"Ha, ha, ha!" he gasped breathlessly as I dropped the papers on the floor and chased him madly round and round the tiny hut. At last we both collapsed, exhausted, onto the bare floor.

Zac poked his head up in the air and looked sideways at me. "Lonely here, isn't it?"

I nodded. Then I indicated the mp3 player on my desk busily humming out my favorite rock number. "I have the player. Dad gave it to me. At least, when I play it, I can remember you." I pouted. "But still it's not the same as really having _you_."

"The effigy, you mean," he retorted playfully.

I stuck out my tongue at him. "Really, aren't we being nonsense, O son of Apollo?"

"_Nonsensical_," he corrected.

"I meant that on purpose."

"Well, at any rate, I think you're being nonsense, O daughter of blue fire."

I stuck out my tongue at him again, but rather half-heartedly this time. I sat up slowly, smoothing the tangles from my now static red hair.

"So," I said, "you still haven't told me _why_ you brought along the guitar."

"Why, I wanted to play the song for you, of course! What else?"

I smiled and bonked my head at my own stupidity.

"Winnie!" he exclaimed, rolling his eyes and catching my wrist firmly in his hand, "Stop. Hitting. Your. Self."

"Start. Playing. The. Song," I retorted.

He chuckled, released my hand, and slung on his famous guitar, strumming away contentedly at the introductory chords. Then he began to sing.

I crossed my legs on the floor and rested my head on my hand as he sang. I'd never really seen him perform so close to me before, and now I realized what a warm texture and rich tonal quality his voice held. He knew the song by heart, and he played everything masterfully and in perfect harmony.

Just as he was drawing his masterpiece to a close, his voice soft and his chords slow and deep, we were suddenly interrupted by a low rumbling beneath our feet, just under the dirt floor of the hut.

I jerked my head up abruptly, and he too glanced about, his song still hanging in the air. "What's that?"

"I--I--don't--know," I stuttered, the rumbling growing to a teeth-chattering trembling. "Quick! G-get out!"

He grabbed his music, and I my sword, and we rushed madly out of the little house into the clearing smack dab in the middle of nowhere (precisely, the forest). We raced together up the slope and up teh hill toward the Big House, where we could see the faint figures of Chiron and Mr. D. standing on the veranda. There was no doubt about it now: the trembling had grown to a convulsing of the earth, and it had spread nearly everywhere else. Other kids who had noticed it too were milling about in front of the Big House, holding on to each other lest they should fall flat on their faces.

"Chiron!" I shouted over the low buzz of voices. "What's happening?"

Chiron trotted down the steps toward us, keeping his centaur body in admirable poise and balance. "I don't know," he replied. "But this certainly is no natural earthquake."

"How do you know?" I yelled, jogging closer to him.

"Camp Half-Blood is protected from certain elements," he called back. We met halfway on the top of the hill. "For instance, we don't experience blizzards, and we've only had very light rain in the past."

"Then what the Mount Olympus _is_ this?" I yelled again.

Zac shot out a hand as I swayed dangerously near the edge of the slope.

"You of all people should know, I believe," said Chiron, a little more softly.

I stared at him, not comprehending. Then my ice blue eyes widened. "You mean--"

He nodded gravely.

"It's dark magic."

**A/N: *dances around* Review review review review review! Please!**


	2. Chapter 2: Newbie or Oldie?

Chapter 2: Newbie...or Oldie?

"Oh yikes," I immediately said.

Just as those words left my mouth, the rumbling beneath us ceased just as suddenly as it had struck us. I lurched and caught hold of Zac's orange camp t-shirt to keep from falling from inertia, in the process causing him to burst a seam at the neck. I muttered an apology and scrambled to my feet again, still swaying and already feeling dizzy.

"That was rather...sudden," remarked Annabeth. The blonde grey-eyed girl had abruptly appeared beside me to help me up.

I nodded tacitly. Slowly I made my way down the hill again toward Chiron and the Big House. Chiron was trotting back and saying something to the other campers.

"...safe to return to the pavilion and your cabins now," he was saying. "We will add at least five more people to the border patrol. If any of you sense a foreign element tonight, come to the Big House and alert me as soon as possible, as well as the other cabins."

The other kids nodded and quickly made their way back to the dining area without a vestige of an argument, apparently having no intention of being caught out in the open in another furious earthquake like that.

"Are you all right?" Zac asked me.

I nodded again. "Well, I guess that means we should be getting our very well-deserved dinner now, since Chiron said so."

He gave me a thin smile and turned in the direction of the other kids, signaling to me to follow. His golden eyes seemed misty and preoccupied.

"What's wrong?" I jogged up toward him to match his long strides (which were still overwhelming compared to _my_ long steps with short legs).

He shook his head and forced out a smile--but it looked like a weary, distracted smile. "Nothing. I'm fine. Just wondering..."

I shot him a pragmatic look. "No use hiding it, Zac. I _can_ tell what people are thinking, you know."

He laughed lightly.

I cleared my throat and crossed my arms while we continued to walk briskly. "You're thinking it's Jasper."

"I suppose I _am_ a horrible liar," he sighed (or rather grumbled). "Boy, I wish I had my dad's talent for lying."

"Wrong," I corrected him. "Isn't Hermes the god of liars?"

"Oh, right. Smarty-pants."

"I prefer to be called smarty-shoes."

He gave me one wide-eyed look and burst out laughing.

The other kids' heads swiveled as one and stared at us.

"Meheheh, let's go and grab our dinner before someone calls the psycho ward!" I gasped, and raced him to the food (which, fortunately, had remained virtually unaffected, save a rather mashed-up chocolate pudding meringue pie specially baked by a now rather cross Hera kid).

Quickly I pounced on a serving of vegetarian macaroni and cheese, swept a portion of it into the yet undisturbed fire, and trotted after Zac, who was carrying a heaping plate of steak, potatos, gravy, and cranberry sauce.

I cast him an envious glance and inquired, none too politely, where he had obtained such attractive victuals.

"I have a pretty sturdy relationship with the Stoll twins," he hinted, referring to the famed Hermes boys, "as well as the local deli shop."

Finding no appropriate words with which to reply, I simply stuck out my tongue at him and dug contentedly into my generous serving of warm, oozing macaroni.

"Yoo-hoo! Anyone up there?"

I started and peeped round the arbor of leaves shrouding us, wondering where that unfamiliar voice had come from. Not too long afterward, I spotted a rather tattered-looking girl making her way wearily up the hill toward us. Quickly I dropped my plate on the bench and ran toward her.

"Are you okay?" I asked solicitously.

She nodded slowly. She made a visible effort to straighten herself. "Is this the camp?"

I studied her. Could she be another half-blood? I noted her messy chocolate brown hair that seemed to have been shorn suddenly with the edge of a knife or a sword. Her face was long and her nose well-defined. Her deep sea blue eyes met my icy ones.

Had I seen her before?

I shook the thought from my mind. She could be no older than I, and she truly looked as if she needed medical care for whatever she was hiding beneath the heavy bandage on her knee and knuckles.

"Come on, I'll take you over to the Big House. Maybe Chiron can do something for you," I offered.

Zac appeared beside me. "Why don't you take her to Aleci?"

I turned, surprised. "Who's Aleici?"

"The half-Iroquois girl. The one who works in the infirmary. Don't you remember her?"

I shook my head with a puzzled look.

"Oh, I suppose you never see her, then. She's always busy."

"Okay, take us to her," I said, propping up the near-fainting girl in my arms.

Zac promptly turned and jogged swiftly down the slope toward the Big House, which also housed the infirmary.

(We even forgot out quickly cooling food abandoned on the bench in the arbor.)

I~I~I~I~I

"How is she?" I asked Zac, who soon popped out of the infirmary room again.

He shrugged. "Ask Aleici. She's coming out in a sec."

What he meant by "sec" turned out to be a milli-sec. Immediately another girl popped out of the room too, but in a quieter and less obtrusive way. She was taller than I, though I could sense she was probably around my age too. She had darker skin than the other kids--a little tannish, or olive--and she had a strangely noble, almost poignant face framed by straight dark hair. I secretly wondered what had given me that notion in describing her.

"Hello," she said in a tone friendly enough.

"I'm Wynter," I proffered. "You must be Aleici, the healer."

She nodded. "Yes, I am. Aren't you the girl who plays with fire?"

I grinned. "_And_ I dance, _and_ I guess people's thoughts, _and_ I like predicting the future..."

She flashed me a grin to match mine. "Busy, aren't you?"

"As you are."

Zac laughed for both of us. Or rather, _at_ us.

I pretended to glare at him.

"So, how is she?" I asked, returning to my main point of inquiry.

"The girl? She should be just fine. She got some big claw scratches on her knee and hand, but I cleaned them up fine. I also...er...sort of healed them."

I studied her closely. "You mean...you can heal people, just like that?"

She nodded, her expression a little uncertain, as if unsure of the meaning of my reaction. "I discovered I can heal people if I concentrate hard enough."

I raised both eyebrows. "That's cool. Like Thalia can persuade people to do what she wants or believe what she says if she concentrates hard enough."

Aleici nodded rapidly. "Yeah, like that."

"Well, so, did she...um...tell you about herself?"

She pursed her lips and folded her arms, leaning against the wall. A strand of dark hair fell over her cheek like a shadow as she spoke. "No, not much. She said her name's Daisy Cookman, or something like that. All I got out of her is that she was being chased by monsters when she came here."

I nodded. Suddenly I straightened. "Wait, how did she get past the borders?"

Aleici gave me a strange look. "I know, I asked her that too. She was just mumbling something about how she didn't know about borders and stuff."

"Hmmm," I replied. I cast a pointed look at Zac, who, unfortunately, did _not_ get my point.

"Oh well," I sighed, "I guess we shouldn't keep you out here too long. I know you have more work to do."

"That's fine!" she assured me with a cheery wave of her hand. "See you again sometime!"

(That sometime, by the way, must have meant _sometime soon_.)

I~I~I~I~I

_Knock-knock_.

I awoke with a start. I must have been dozing.

_Knock-knock_.

"Coming!"

Oh Hades, why did I always have to be interrupted at the most inopportune times?

Stifling an audible yawn, I sluggishly pulled open the door. With a start, I realized it was very dark outside. No wonder I was so sleepy.

"Hello there! Is that you, Wynter?"

I started--again--at the sound of Aleici's voice. I was quickly becoming endeared to her comforting tone, even though she did pop up at unexpected moments.

"Yes! Hello, Aleici!" I peered round the doorway at caught sight of her silhouette against the moonlit forest. "Why don't you come in?"

She quickly obeyed without further delay.

"Why'd you come?" I asked, truly flattered that she had found my little hut here in the forest bordering camp. "And how'd you find out I live here?"

"To answer your latter question, I found out from Percy," she replied, "and to answer your first question, it's about the girl."

"Girl?" I yawned. "What girl?"

Aleici gripped my shoulder with a hand and shook me gently. "It might be better for you to wake up first, don't you think?"

"I _am_ awake!" I protested. Now roused, I truly was awake.

"That's better," she observed. "As I was saying, I wanted to talk to you about _the_ girl...that is, if you don't mind."

"Oh! Daisy? All right. What about her?"

"Well, I thought I'd come to you to clear up some of my suspicions, because I've heard you have great intuition and stuff like that inherited from your mom."

"Thank you," I replied, blushing. "Now what might those suspicions be?"

"Hm, let's see. For one, I don't think Daisy is her real name."

"Me neither," I acquiesced promptly.

"Yeah, because she sort of hesitated first before answering me whenever I asked her a question."

"Like?"

"Like getting into the borders."

I sat bolt upright. "That's it! She looked like she knew something, didn't she? That's what you're saying?"

Aleici nodded quickly.

"So what _do_ you think she's hiding?"

Aleici looked disappointed. "I thought _you_ might be able to answer that."

"Oh." Now I looked deflated too.

We both looked at each other, then down at our hands, then back up at each other again. We both must have felt somewhat awkward.

"Well, you know," I began slowly, "I was wondering when I first saw her..."

"Wondering? Wondering what?" Now she had a new edge to her voice, a little more impatient than before.

"Wondering if I'd seen her before."

"Well, _have_ you? Out with it!"

I frowned. "I can't really remember..."

"You know what I think?" said Aleici suddenly. "I think she's a spy."

**A/N: Whoo-hoo! Another cliffie!**

**Can you guess who Daisy is? I think she's a pretty easy one to guess. We've met her before...*wink wink***

**By the way, the new character Aleici is Aish Sheva's wonderful character contribution. She's slightly different from how Sheva described her, but I am trying my best to match her personality.**

**Thanks for all the reviews! Please review again!**


	3. Chapter 3: Break Away from the Night

**A/N: Hello all! Please forgive me for not updating in weeks. I was busy studying for finals, which I am glad are now over (excepting history). I will be busy the rest of the week working on a project for Latin II and finishing up _Great Expectations_, but be assured that I will update more frequently now! Also, thank you so much for your patience and your wonderful reviews!**

Chapter 3: Break Away from Chains of Night

"A spy?" I burst out. "You mean to say we're not safe anymore, not even here within our own premises in camp?"

Aleici leaned back and shut her eyes for a brief moment, seeming to concentrate as she took a deep breath. She placed a hand firmly on my brow, and within a few seconds, my panic subsided, and my blood pressure returned to normal.

She slowly shook her head. "No. Well, yes. Actually...I'm not sure."

I snorted half-heartedly at our own confusion. "Here I go again, being a lame duck."

She frowned. "Well, don't you think maybe we should tell Chiron first about it? I've told him about the new camper, but since she's very weak, he hasn't gone to see her yet. I'm sure he would know what to do."

"Wait, wait, wait," I said suddenly. "I was saying I knew her. She jus looks so..._familiar_. I mean, her looks probably changed, and that's why I didn't recognize her at first, but I had a suspicion at the very start."

Aleici rolled her eyes playfully. "Here we go again. Wynter, will you spit it out?"

"It's D--De--Demi--oh, man, I've forgotten her name."

"Who?"

"There was this daughter of Aphrodite. She was sixteen, I think. I couldn't help but remember her looks, because she was always wearing something fashionable, usually hot pink and the like. You know, slim, short layered brown hair, sea blue eyes. Just like Daisy's."

Aleici cocked a brow in puzzlement and look up at the ceiling for inspiration. It took her less than a millisecond to snap her head back down and look at me. "Demi Cochemagne?"

"Yes! That's it!" I said excitedly. Then my enthusiasm immediately faded when I realized who exactly we were talking about. "She's a bad one," I said, shuddering. "She spied on me and prowled around me on my quest just a few weeks ago."

"And you couldn't even remember her name?" Aleici gasped in surprise.

I made a face. "That's my fatal flaw, my dad says. I always forget stuff. I mean, I even forgot my dad's own name and looks when I was kidnapped at age four."

Aleici stared. "You're kidding. You were kidnapped?"

I waved a hand. "Eh, maybe you wouldn't want to get into that just now. It's a long story. In short, my mom saved me, and I was an orphan on the streets for quite a while before Zac found me and brought me to camp."

"Living on--?"

"On the sidewalk."

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant!" Aleici burst out, half-frowning and half-smiling, and ultimately barely stifling a gale of laughter.

"Ohhh," I said, intelligently. "Well, I lived on my own living. If that makes any sense. Dancing, mostly, and doing magic tricks."

"I see," said Aleici, nodding. "Well! Back to the problem at hand!"

"Yes, back to the problem, I think you're right. We should go tell Chiron. Why don't we do it right now?"

Aleici's eyebrows shot up sky-high. "It's so late."

"You did wake _me_ up, you know," I said pointedly. "Besides, Chiron won't mind if it's important. Only grouchy old Mr. D. would."

Aleici laughed lightly. "You're a smart one, Wynter."

"Call me Winnie."

"Okay. Winnie-the-Pooh it is, then."

I~I~I~I~I

Chiron was not the least bit surprised. Which surprised me.

"Were you actually expecting this all along?" I demanded, shifting in the itchy old armchair before the fireplace.

He nodded, glancing at Aleici. "Apparently your new friend Aleici here has already heard much about you and your quest. In fact, she was our best healer on duty during the great battle."

Aleici bit her lip and flushed slightly.

"As I was saying," continued Chiron, "we must do something about Demi. I will have her confined in the infirmary until she is completely conscious."

"What if--what if she's pretending to be sick?" I ventured.

"That is a possibility," said Chiron quietly. He nodded at Aleici. "However, I trust Aleici's abilities, and she has diagnosed Demi to be truly ill. So we need not worry ourselves in the meantime, as long as she remains in bed."

"And when she's out of bed--?"

"Then we confront her and keep her confined and under watch at all times."

"What if she has a sidekick in camp?"

Chiron smiled dryly at my paranoia. "She certainly cannot have multiple sidekicks. We will place her under heavy guard."

I nodded, but still I was not satisfied. "I still don't think it's safe having her around."

"Then I will promptly double the border patrol at all times, especially at night," replied Chiron readily.

"Okay," I said at last. I glanced over at Aleici again. She glanced over at me.

"It is late now. You need your rest," Chiron hinted.

We nodded and shuffled sluggishly to our feet, yawning. We gave each other weary smiles, exchanged cheery good-nights, and found our cabins--mine being the hut in the woods, and hers being the Apollo Cabin, Number 11.

I~I~I~I~I

Sleep was slow and stubborn in coming to me. I tossed and turned restlessly in my low mattress, one moment throwing off the sheets, the next moment shivering and drawing it up over me again. I forced my eyelids to close, and yet they were as obstinate as ever. Just as obstinate as I could be, I thought grumpily.

At last, after perhaps two restless hours of lying awake and staring at the pattern of threads in my pillow, I dropped off to a light, troubled sleep. Night folded her arms softly about me, and almost reluctantly, my body obeyed.

And yet there was a light coming toward me in the darkness, a piercing shaft of indigo rays shooting ahead into my eyes from the depths of the inky night. In my dreamlike state, I sat up and tried to lean on one hand, only to find that there was nothing beneath my palm: I was sitting--or floating, I don't know which--in the thick, airless see of black. I lifted a hand to shade my eyes and peered ahead to see the source of the light.

"Wynter."

I started.

"_Wynter_."

I lifted my eyes again. My mother had come to me often in my dreams, but never before in this enigmatic way, without showing her face.

"I'm here, Mother," I called out, as if I were in an enormous cavern, but my words were quiet as a whisper and echoed subtly back at me.

"Wynter!" Her call was more insistent. "Come closer!"

I obeyed. When I tried to move my legs, I found I could not. Alarmed, I tried my arms, and found that they too had somehow been paralyzed. Panic struck me in the pit of my stomach as I struggled inside my own dream body to move. But it was like running in water--whatever I did was maddeningly slow, and worse yet, I could not even do anything.

"Wait! Mother!" I shouted. This time my voice was loud enough to be heard by any deaf person. But still my muscles would not budge.

"I am here, Wynter. Listen to me. In this way, you must free yourself in order to free him. Do you understand?"

I struggled desperately to free myself from the hold of the blanket of night. "Wait! Help! Help me out, Mother!"

"_Do you understand?_"

It was spoken as a whisper, and yet as it reached my ears, it reverberated like a bell, the toll of a gong in the distance.

I was near tears. "Mother! No! Don't go!"

"_Do you understand?..._"

The light snapped back and began receding rapidly. I tried in vain to reach out a hand and grab hold of it, as if it were a tangible means of escape. But all was lost. With a distant rumble, the violet light faded into the darkness, and I was left all alone.

**A/N: I know it wasn't so heart-thumpingly exciting. I haven't been writing in ages (due to school eating up my life, unfortunately), but I did try my best. I promise that the next chapter will have some of the real action in it! I still do think, though, that the dream is mysterious.**

**As always is my request, please review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Paralysis of Analysis

**A/N: Okay, I'm really, _really_ sorry now for delaying this update--I promised it eight days ago, and I only got around to uploading it today. My lame excuse? I've been filling out several art requests for friends on deviantART. Well, now that my lame excuse has been announced, I thank you all for your lovely reviews and all your continued support!**

Chapter 4: Paralysis of Analysis

"Do you understand, Winnie?"

I awoke with a jolting start. "What?"

Zac had swiveled around on my stool, looking at me expectantly. "I was saying, do you understand?"

"Understand what?" I sat up quickly and bumped my head soundly on the low sloping ceiling at the head of my bed.

"I'm going to go run and get some breakfast for you, all right? Then you can tell me everything happened since the earthquake. I'm pretty much in the dark about this confusion over the new camper, you know. I saw her walking around with some guards surrounding her. So I just need an explanation."

"Gaia!" I burst out in unleashed fury. "I thought--I thought--my dream..."

Zac raised a brow. "What dream?"

"It was my mom!" I exclaimed, as it finally clicked in my fuzzy head. "She was telling me something. She kept on saying, 'Do you understand?' And it turned out to be _you_ yelling in my ear."

Zac cracked into his signature grin. "You can calm down now," he coaxed me. Suddenly his golden eyes filled again with concern. "Say, what _was_ your dream about?"

"My mom Hecate was looking at me in a cloud of black," I began slowly. "She was calling to me to come closer, but I couldn't. Somehow I couldn't. And then she started to say something about how this was how I was supposed to be able to free _him_. Then you came along and messed up my sleep."

"Uh, sorry?" he said, scratching his head. "But that's so weird. Who's _him_? And what did she mean?"

"I was hoping _you_ could help me."

"Oh. Ah."

"Never mind, just go run and get our breakfast first. It looks like your brain needs a lot of waking up, Zac."

"So does yours, Winnie-the-Pooh."

"Hey! Only Aleici's supposed to call me that!"

"Aleici told me. Don't I have a right?"

I grumbled something unintelligible under my breath and grudgingly threw aside the covers, shuffling to where Zac was swinging his legs like a little boy while perched on my stool. I glanced over his shoulder into my wall mirror. My hair was a crazy red mess.

"Well?" I demanded. "Aren't you going to go? Go away. I need to change."

"You're being mean to me," Zac complained, with a mock pity-me expression.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. I couldn't help grinning. Then I placed a skinny hand on his high, broad shoulder and pushed him with all my might out the door. "Don't forget the skim milk!" I called back through the window as he trudged up the hill, hands in pockets, toward the dining pavilion.

I turned back and hummed as I busily pulled out my drawers, searching for the right outfit of the day (it turned out that I was a perfect slob when it came to my personal effects). I finally located a new dark purple t-shirt tucked behind the headboard and a semi-new pair of dark wash jeans thrown carelessly beneath my bed. After hunting around the bathroom for my rainbow hair ties, I at last succeeded in wrestling my knotted waves of fiery tresses into an impossibly thick plait.

Zac came just in time. Just as I was starting to sing out loud my third favorite rock song, he came barging into the bathroom, spilling toothpaste on the sink.

"Hey!" I yelled through a mouthful of toothpaste and lather. "Hello? Ever heard of knocking?"

He was staring at me. "Hey, you look good with your hair back." When I said nothing, he grinned and shrugged. "Come on, your bacon's getting cold."

I found myself grumbling something indecipherable yet again as I rinsed out my mouth and followed him back into the main living area of my hut.

"So," Zac said, collapsing on his back uninvited on the floor and looking up expectantly like a little boy at me, "what were you going to tell me about everything that happened to you?"

"I wasn't going to tell you," I retorted with a wry grin. "You coerced me too."

"Call it whatever you like. Well? What happened?"

"Aleici came down here to have a talk with me about Daisy, the new kid. It turns out she's Demi."

Zac's golden eyes widened considerably. He shot up bolt upright. "_Demi_? That stupid, empty-headed, good-for-nothing traitorous excuse of a half-blood in the Aphrodite cabin?"

I twisted my mouth in agreement. "Yeah."

"Well? Did you talk to Chiron about it?"

"Of course. That's how we got her to be guarded at all times."

"Huh. What a troll of an event. And I thought everything would be all right again," Zac complained. "_Now_ what do we do? That treacherous little feline could be passing out information, for all we know."

"Chiron's doubled the guards. Also, I don't think she has the capacity to communicate with somebody through magic--since that's the only way she can now, with everyone watching her. Only I can work with magic." I drew out my last words a little difficultly. "--Or Jasper."

With that on my mind, I took a generous bite of my bacon and eggs. I sighed as my stomach at last ceased grumbling, and I munched on in silence for some time. Suddenly I stopped.

Zac looked up. "What's wrong?"

I couldn't speak for a moment. At last I managed to stammer, "D-did you p-put something in the food?"

He shook his head, disconcerted and growing concerned. "No. Are you okay?" He immediately stood up to steady me.

I dropped my food back on my plate. "I feel--dizzy. And my stomach hurts like crazy."

"Uh-oh," Zac said under his breath. "Got to go get Aleici."

"Is it bad?" I demanded, noting his near panic.

"N-no," he stuttered, already moving toward the door. "It's just food poisoning!" He grabbed my hand and whisked me out of the hut before I could say something about how food poisoning could not be bad.

"You're Apollo's kid! You ought to know all about this! What do you mean, it's not bad?" I gasped, struggling to climb up the hill.

"Stop talking," he said.

Suddenly, my knees buckled, and I stumbled and flew to the ground. Zac shot out a hand to thrust me up on my feet again, but all of a sudden I couldn't stand anymore. I moved my lips to say something; nothing came out of my mouth. My heart began to beat faster.

"Oh, gods, this can_not_ be happening!" Zac muttered, hoisting me on his shoulders. He kept repeating, "This cannot be happening," as he ran even faster toward the Big House.

By the time we got there, I could not move at all. I repeatedly tried to at least say something, but I could not. I tried to move. I was immobilized.

I could not speak. I could not walk. I could only see and hear.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5: Conclave of a Spy

**A/N: Here's Chapter 5! I know a LOT of you, especially my dearest friend Avalonfreak, haven been torturously waiting wth bated breath for this installment. Sorry, guys. Enjoy!**

Chapter 5: Conclave of a Spy

The soft lights danced above me in a dreamy, endless rhythm, not unlike the sunbeams streaming down from the sky into the water of a swimming pool. But all was dark, nearly black, all around me. I felt that I could move my arms and legs, and maybe even my head, but when I did move, my attempts brought me nowhere near the lights ahead. I began to feel the panic mounting inside me. What had happened to me? Had I died? Was this what it was like in the passing from life to Elysium? But I knew that it was something else--and that something was seriously wrong.

I was trapped.

Then, so slowly, so subtly that I hardly noticed it till the last moment, an unseen force began tugging my steadily downward, like a silent and motionless whirlpool sucking an unfortunate victim into its deep abyss.

Then the lights disappeared from view altogether, and all was completely black around me. I opened my mouth to call out, but no sound came out. My lips moved to shape my silent, despairing words. I would never get out.

_I have yet to see one with such strong magic as yours, that you could survive such an impossible journey through magic and time to be with me._

My eyes flew open at the sonorous voice surrounding me. Immediately I tensed, glancing about me warily at the inky darkness, wondering if any moment a humongous monster would spring out of the shadows and devour me. But no, it was a human voice--could it even possibly be the voice of a god?

My first reaction was to speak. Now, I found to my astonishment, I had recovered my voice; and yet, it just seemed different from what it had been before.

"Where am I?" I said. "Who are you? What have you done to me?"

The voice chuckled humorlessly. _Your mother is the lady of magic. I am the lord of time. And that is why I have told you that you have journeyed through both magic and time to reach me._

I gasped. "Kronos!"

_You know me too well to be fooled, Wynter. Yes, your mother and I had a son. He is still alive._

I had not even realized I had been standing--more like floating on the ground--until I fell to my knees in the dark and buried my face in my hands. "Jasper."

_You did not truly expect to defeat him so soundly with the mere magic of the earth, did you, Wynter?_

A sob escaped my throat, and I could not answer save with a tiny shake of my head.

_He is with me in the depths of magic and time. He may not be able to return to earth for a long while yet...but he will._

I at last raised my head and turned miserably toward the voice. "Why are you telling me all this? What do you want with me?"

_I will be direct to the point. Your mother wants her son; you want your freedom. Jasper is nothing now to me, for he has lost much of his inner strength in battling you. I will not deny it; your power, when unleashed, is more than I have ever seen before--even stronger than your mother's. Therefore, I propose that you perform one great task for me, and both your brother and you shall be free._

I ran a hand through my disheveled hair, which had somehow worked its way free of constraints. My eyes were hard as ice now, just as they usually were. But I was in no way convinced. "Why would I perform a task for you for my freedom, if it shall free Jasper also?"

_Ah, but you are mistaken, Wynter. True, the last time you met your brother, he was powerful--and he served my cause. But he is worthless. He is powerless. And you would be freeing him for your mother's sake._

"Can there be no other way? Can I not work to free myself?" I demanded, growing desperate now.

Again he laughed darkly. _No. There is no other way._

I sank into the liquid darkness and fell on my back, just as my heart was sinking in despair. My mother Hecate could not hear me. My friends could not hear me. I had no way out now--except to serve Kronos.

My words were low and broken. "What do you want me to do?"

His laugh faded into a chuckle of triumph. _And so you have relented. Well done, Wynter Popplewell. Yes, you shall accomplish a certain mission for me. When we are finished with this little...agreement, you will be temporarily released from unconsciousness. Once back in camp, you must gather all the information you can, especially concerning the plans of that old conniving centaur Chiron. I will instruct you; my agent Demi Cochemagne, in fact, will recognize you as one of us when you return._

I shuddered. "You would have me betray my friends."

_Betrayal? Ah, if that is what you choose to call it, then so be it. But you must be well aware of the fact that _there is no other way_._

I sighed, and soon I felt the tears beginning to run down my face. I lay there in the darkness, rocking back and forth on my heels, consoling myself with the thought that in the little time I had left before my return, I was still alive.

But trapped.

**A/N: Look, I'm sorry it's so short. But I already have part of Chapter 6 up in my computer files, so expect that soon--in fact, within the week, to compensate for the suspense.**

**Please, as always, drop a short review or two!**


	6. Chapter 6: Fire and Ice Meet Again

** A/N: So I did decide to upload it sooner than later, after all. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! This time, I'm rewarding you all for your most impressive patience with an extra-long chapter of suspense and thrill. Please enjoy!**

Chapter 6: Fire and Ice Meet Again

My first sensation was a strong, warm hand enveloping mine. Then I was rising through the liquid darkness, up through the black water toward that light, and a thrill went through me. I could hear voices. Chiron! Zac! Aleici!

I was back!

Slowly, my eyes forced themselves to open. At first it was so dim around me that my eyes had difficulty adjusting; and then I saw that I was lying on my back in bed, surrounded by four whitewashed walls. The infirmary, no doubt. But why was it so dark? How long had I been asleep?

"She's coming around! Aleici, she's awake!"

Good old Zac's familiar voice! I sat up with a jerk and saw him sitting there in the corner on a stool by my head, clutching my hand as if for dear life.

"Zac!" I gasped. "You're here! You--I--how long have I been gone?"

"You've been out overnight, through another day, and now it's midnight again," he answered solemnly, and pressed my hand even harder, as if to ascertain that it truly was me now sitting up and talking to him.

Aleici's glossy dark head popped up round the doorway. A smile of relief spread across her face. "You're up!" she said. "How do you feel? A bit queasy?" Her voice was bright enough, albeit somewhat weary, and I could just imagine how tired she was, probably sitting up all night with me.

"I'm fine," I said slowly. "I--I had an experience that you'll probably be dying to hear."

"Tell us now!" Zac demanded with a grin.

I turned to him. "How long have _you_ been up, Mr. Sunshine?"

His grin faded into a sheepish smile. "I haven't slept yet."

"Go and get some rest first," I insisted, making as if to shove him away toward the door, but he resisted. "You too, Aleici!" I advised the girl.

"Not that sleep would come to me _now_ that you've dropped a hint of a good story," Aleici said wryly.

I sighed in mock exasperation. "All right, all right!" I said. "But where's Chiron? He might want to hear it, too."

"I'll go run and get him," she offered, and dashed off spryly up the stairs of the Big House.

Suddenly, a dark and echoing voice filled my head. _I would not have you tell all so quickly, Wynter. Are you truly so unwise as to risk such a secret? Be assured, Wynter Popplewell, that every time you speak my name, you shall fall down in pain. And if you even once give a hint of our pact, I will strike you dead._

The panic filled my eyes. I found I could reply to Kronos in my head. _This is impossible!_ I said. _How can you enter my mind? How can you just kill me? You can't control what I say!_

_That is where you are wrong. We are linked to one another through the dwindling power of your half-brother, whose blood through his veins may flow still._

_You cannot control me, _I retorted. At that moment, a deep, excruciating stab of pain shot through my heart, and I gasped and fell from the bed straight into Zac's arms.

Zac gave an exclamation of surprise and forcibly removed my clenched fist from my chest. He pressed his ear against my heart, apparently listening for my pulse. I knew it was racing.

"What's wrong, Winnie? What happened?"

I shook my head, panting for air. In a moment, the pain subsided, and I was back to my old self again, save for a dull throb every now and then in my chest. I opened my mouth to speak.

"Nothing."

What was happening? Why had I said "nothing"? I had meant to tell him everything! Why couldn't I control my words?

And then I knew. I was completely under the power of Kronos.

"Chiron's here!"

I started at the sudden voice of Aleici, and I pushed myself away from Zac. All of a sudden, my vision became fuzzy; I could hardly discern the concern on Chiron's face as he peered round the doorway and wheeled himself over to my bed--or rather, where I had fallen from the bed.

"You told me she was quite healthy when you left her," said Chiron, pressing a hand to my burning forehead. "Why does she seem ill again?"

Aleici looked honestly perplexed. "Wynter? Are you all right? What happened?"

I shook my head again, and again I was unable to say anything.

She turned to Zac. "Well? What happened to her?"

"Her pulse is so fast and unsteady," Zac replied, pressing a thumb to my wrist. "She looked like she was in pain just before you came back."

Chiron was now truly concerned. "Tell me everything you can, Wynter. It is important that you reveal what happened during your long period of unconsciousness."

I struggled to push myself up, but a sudden lull had come over me, and I coould hardly keep myself erect. With a cry, I fell forward.

I~I~I~I~I

I awoke to the cold, sharp feeling of the edge of a blade pressed against my neck. All was dark around me, and I was lying on my back in bed once more.

"Wynter...my dear, dear pet Wynter."

I started at the subtle hiss in my ear. I was able to turn my head slightly, just enough to catch sight of those large and menacing blue eyes piercing the darkness.

I gasped and struggled violently to get out from under the blade, but she only laughed softly and held me down with her other hand. "It's no use, sly one," she drawled. "Your new boss told me everything that happened between you and him. And now, you have put under _my_ charge."

"Demi!" I said. "What are you doing to me? You can't kill me!"

"Well, we certainly don't want any more secrets being spilled to old Chiron, now, do we?" she said. She twisted her fingers in my hair and pressed her knife so close that I could feel a thin rivulet of blood trickling down my neck. "Do we?"

I gave a muffled cry. I could feel a cold sweat breaking out on my forehead and beading on my brow. "What are you doing?"

Suddenly she jerked me up to my feet by my hair, ignoring my gasp of pain, and dragged me roughly to the now open window, still holding the knife against my throat.

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded, the fear dancing wildly in my eyes.

"Oh, not too far," she chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll be back before the night is over. We just need to teach you a lesson."

She got up on the window sill first, then hauled me unceremoniously through outside after her. She picked me up like a rag doll and whisked me away down the hill toward a copse of trees, that clearing deep in the heart of the forest.

Dancing lights flew into my vision, temporarily blinding me. Was that torchlight? I was suddenly set down in the dry, crackling grass, and for once, the blade was lifted from my throat. Slowly I lifted a shaking hand to wipe my neck dry, and my fingers came away covered in blood.

I sat up and looked about me, and I became aware of other dark figures besides Demi's. I hadn't even noticed until now that Demi had been wearing something dark also, black jeans and a long black t-shirt held at the waist with a flashing metal belt, a vestige of her familiar fashionista self. Upon closer examination, the belt turned out to be the one that held the scabbard of her dagger, and its design was a grotesque carving of Gorgons' heads.

A low chant suddenly started up, rhythmic and deep, the voices of both girls and boys mingling in one booming strain, singing words unfamiliar to me--no doubt they were ancient Greek.

I realized that someone was standing behind me and had a firm grip on my shoulder, making sure that I wouldn't just get up and bolt--not that I even had the strength to do so. I was bleeding too heavily to even think straight.

Just then, a fire flared up from the direction of the center of the clearing, and I saw the figures moving faster and stamping their feet, and Demi was raising her arms high above her head and shouting something. I strained my ears.

"Kronos will live again!" she yelled across the noise. Immediately, the chant subsided into a low murmur.

"His firstborn son, Jasper Tenebris, will bear the long sunken spirit of the great Titan Kronos, who has been buried by magic and time. But first, to free his spirit, cries must be spent, and blood must be shed!"

The hand gripping my shoulder tightened. I writhed and cried aloud, but I was powerless, and I was dragged helplessly across the grass to the center of the clearing. No! It couldn't be me! I couldn't die yet! Demi told me I would not die--only, I would be punished.

It was then that I looked down and saw a figure, prone and still, lying flat across the top of a rock: Zeus' fist. It was a girl, perhaps only my age, with wild red hair not unlike my own, and a slender body, but with her eyes closed. I realized that her wrists were bound securely with a thin cord.

Demi's voice was soft and sly behind me. "No, you will not die, Wynter," she whispered, echoing my very thoughts, just as if we had never parted. "You will not die. _She_ will die. And you will kill her."

I could not believe my ears. Then Kronos' voice once again filled my mind. _You have come far, Wynter. My agent Demi has done well. Yes, you will learn a lesson. You will take a knife and kill this girl, and through her death--and the previous deaths of many others--I will at last be free once more._

This couldn't be true. Demi was there again, smiling coyly at me like a bobcat, slowly drawing her own dagger and wrapping my fingers around the hilt. "Go on," she whispered. "Hold it up and bring it down."

The sweat was trickling down my forehead again and down the side of my face. I was suddenly panting, at a loss for air. I struggled to take my hand off the knife, but it was futile. Something--_someone_--was taking my own hand and closing it tighter round the handle, now raising it, now poising it straight at that girl's heart.

"No!"

I heard my own voice, my old voice, screaming that one word at my own body. With all the strength I had left, I whirled and fought to cast away the dagger.

"Wynter, you are defying Kronos! You cannot resist his power!" Demi had caught my own wrist in an amazing grip, and now she was forcing my fingers back into place. My hand shook with all the strength I could muster. I was two people, two Wynters, the faithful and the traitorous.

With a strangled cry, I shoved all my weight at Demi's tall frame. In my anger, I let loose a shaft of ice, which blasted into a thin wall of hardened frost that quickly dissolved in the heat of the torchlight. The knife in my hand spun wildly out of control and into her own hand, and it flew straight up at me, slashing savagely at the side of my face down all the way to the end of my chin.

I shouted some curse at the skies and doubled up on my knees in the dry grass below me, right before the unconscious girl I was supposed to kill. The blood gushed freely down my neck and into my shirt, all the way down my chest, and spurted onto the girl's body.

Her eyes flew open.

They were a stunning crimson. They were large and fiery, shining like a wildfire, staring back at my ice blue irises with an unsettling light. The girl raised her head and seemed to take in the entire situation in one glance.

Suddenly her eyes widened. "Look out!"

I whirled. Demi was screaming insanely and holding the bloodstained dagger high above her head, just about to bring it down through my heart.

"Die!" she shrieked through clenched teeth.

I never knew quite what happened in the three seconds after that. I breathed a ball of icy blue fire that grew into a globe around us. Then there was another shout behind me, the other girl's voice, and then a solid thump from somewhere. Demi's lynx-like expression contorted in pain and surprise, and she dropped the knife and fell to the grass, her eyes fluttering closed.

I gasped for air and picked myself up, looking about in astonishment at the suddenly deserted clearing. Where were the others? I had fully expected them to charge and seize me captive. Instead, they had fled.

"Are you all right?"

The girl had clambered to her feet behind me. I turned, still fingering my wounds in shock. I managed to give her a small nod. Then I realized that her hands were still tied in front of her, and I picked up the knife from where it fallen unheeded in the grass. It still glinted an evil red with my own blood.

"Sit down and don't worry about me," the girl suddenly spoke. I turned back in surprise.

She was still standing there, the cord encircling her wrists, but this time she was holding it up and furrowing her brows in concentration, as if trying to snap her bonds. To my astonishment, smoke began to rise from the cord, soon turning into small flames licking at the tough twisted hemp. In less than a minute, the rope fell away from her hands to the ground, where it was consumed by the fire.

I blinked, unable to believe my eyes. "You--you're a half-blood!"

The girl plopped down wearily beside me, keeping one eye on the unconscious form of Demi and the other on my face. Even from a distance, her dark fire-like eyes were still startling. "Yes, I'm Aithne, and I'm a demigod," she admitted without ceremony. "I know who my mother is. She is Hestia."

"Hestia!" I exclaimed. "The maiden goddess of fire?"

She nodded grimly. "You are a half-blood."

It was a statement, not a question. I lifted my chin. "Yes, so am I. My name is Wynter Popplewell. My mother is Hecate, goddess of magic."

"Magic!" she repeated. "Then that explains the blue fire."

"Yes."

"I see. Well, I certainly am glad you were here. If not for you, I know for certain I would have been killed. What were you doing here, in the first place?"

I opened my mouth to pour out my entire story, but the same overpowering presence halted the words I was about to say. _Do you dare defy my orders, Wynter?_

I started at his voice.

I looked back up at the girl Aithne.

My mouth opened again and formed one word: "Kronos."

My heart was stabbed a thousand times over with shards of fire and ice, the magic of his power over time. I collapsed to the ground.

Footsteps rang behind us.

**A/N: See? I told you it's a long one! Well...longer than usual. And can you guess who that is behind them at the end?**

**Thanks again to my friend Aish Sheva for her most useful character, the healer Aleici. Also, big gangsta hugs and cookies for Avalonfreak for her new character, Aithne! Thanks so much, Vanizzle!**

**As always, _please_ do review!**


	7. Chapter 7: Yes We Can

Chapter 7: Yes We Can

My breath was labored and shallow. My muscles could hardly move from sheer pain and exhaustion as a pair of strong hands slid under my head and my knees and bore me swiftly up into the air and across the rustling grass. I vaguely heard Aithne's voice, cautious and suspicious, as she whispered (in consideration for my condition), "Oh, it's _you_ again."

I struggled to raise my head, and my eyes opened slightly to encounter a boy's face with sea-green eyes and jet black hair. I could have gasped in surprise, but because I'd suffered too many surprises that day, I had no more room for another. I simply sighed and said, "Thank you, Percy."

Aithne, meanwhile, was tramping alongside us, keeping a sharp eye on me and another on Percy, who had somehow wandered our way and found us in the clearing. He must have been the one sneaking about earlier.

"Where are you taking her?" Aithne demanded.

Percy shrugged. "Nowhere else except the Big House. She can't go anywhere else in _this_ condition."

At that, Aithne suddenly bristled. "Well, maybe she wouldn't be in _this_ condition if you had come earlier! Where were you, anyway? What took you so long?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Oh, will you shut up? You talk too much."

"You act stupid too much."

"As if _you_ don't."

"Nice try. Hestia doesn't like her daughter being an idiot, Seaweed Brain."

"Very funny. Annabeth's the only who can call me that!"

"Indeed. Then I shall call you Kelp Head."

Percy rolled his eyes yet again. "Oh, shut up..."

The red-haired girl apparently gave it up; instead, she leaned forward and bent close to my ear. "You said something, before you fell, Wynter," she whispered, low enough to escape the (presumably idiotic but sharp) ears of Percy. "What was it? Did you say..._Kronos_?"

I licked my parched lips. I could barely speak for pain; I only gave her the tiniest nod, an almost imperceptible one.

Seeing the gravity of my situation, Aithne fell silent and said nothing more the rest of our brief and tiring journey up the hill; no doubt, she was absorbing what I had told her earlier and trying to make sense of my monosyllabic utterance.

At last we stopped. We were on the porch of the Big House, and I could hear footsteps pattering hurriedly from the direction of the doorway. The door burst open, and someone gasped.

"Oh my--oh my--oh my goodness, what happened to you, Wynter?"

Another series of footsteps directly followed Aleici's exclamation, and in the back of my mind, I was aware of Chiron clopping down the hallway toward us, then his deep voice reaching my ears in a blur. Everything went strangely hazy, and the last thing I remember was a soft kiss on my brow and a strong girl's hand holding mine.

I~I~I~I~I

"...the same new camper who went missing yesterday."

I groaned and opened my eyes groggily to the dim light emanating from a shaded lamp at my bedside. I was back in the infirmary--again.

"...saw Demi...knocked out. Looked like a big fight or something, but no signs of a widespread struggle..."

That was Percy's voice, low and cautious as he conversed with Chiron, who happened to be back in wheelchair form merely for convenience's sake. At first I could make neither head nor tail of what Percy had just said; and then it all came back to me in a flash, and I raised my head at the mention of the previous night's battle.

"Well, what did you do with her?"

"I went back for her as fast as I could after I carried Wynter up here. I managed to tie her up, just in case, and I left her just down the hall in the parlor, nicely done up and watched by four guards. You can go and take a look at her."

"Very well, then. I shall. In due time. First, I must see if-- Why, Wynter, you _are_ awake!"

My voice was hoarse, and my arms were weak, but I managed to push myself up in bed without help. I nodded vigorously. "I--I'm sorry I keep getting hurt," was the first thing I said.

"Oh, that's silly," said a familiar yet forgotten voice from the doorway.

I looked up with a start. "Annabeth! It's been so long! You--you came to visit me here?"

She laughed, and as she shook her light gold waves free from the hair ties constraining them in pigtails, her sparkling grey eyes danced. "I know, I was late in waking up yesterday and today. I've been helping out teaching the new kids--oh, but let's not get into that right now. Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"A skirmish," I replied.

"A skirmish? When? Where? With whom?"

Almost unconsciously, I raised a hand and rubbed my sore chest where it had been stabbed through twice now. Would I risk it? No, I could not. Who knew--this time, Kronos could kill me.

Death.

I was afraid. I know my eyes held that strange ice-light hue when I was afraid. I lifted my gaze and murmured, "I can't tell you. But Aithne knows."

"Aithne? The new camper?"

"Yes, Annabeth," replied Chiron for me. "Apparently, Wynter here had not yet met Aithne, the daughter of Hestia, until last night, which is understandable, considering the number of demigods here. Obviously Aithne was deeply involved in this skirmish...she even mentioned something about brushing close with death."

I swallowed hard. I cast a sideways glance at Percy, who was twiddling his thumbs and playing with his messy black hair like a little boy. "I heard Percy telling you what he knew of our story," I said slowly, turning back to Chiron. "Demi was...rather involved."

"That evil bobcat! That traitorous lynx!" Annabeth muttered. "How did she get loose?"

I was at a loss for an explanation. "I think she must have a sidekick here at camp helping her."

"Well then," she said impatiently, "who?"

"Look," broke in Percy suddenly. "I think Wynter's tired. Let's leave her for a bit and discuss this outside, shall we?"

"Why, what a sensible suggestion, my boy," conceded Chiron with a hint of pride in his voice. "Would you like anything else, Wynter? Some water?"

"Yes, please, thank you," I said, my voice dry. Just as they turned to leave, I suddenly said, "Wait. Could I--could you also send Zac over?"

Chiron nodded and disappeared through the doorway.

I sat there, leaning heavily against the springy pillows and running a hand through my messy waves, when a sudden step startled me out of my thoughts. It was then that I was greeted by the most welcome sight in the entire world.

He just about ran to my bed, hardly taking the time to set down my water and dose of nectar on the table. "I came as fast as I could," he said breathlessly, clutching my hand between both of his. "I tried to visit you earlier, but Aleici wouldn't let me, because you were still sleeping. I stayed a bit, but I couldn't wait any longer, so I sneaked in. It was then that Annabeth crashed into me and said something not too polite about my intelligence level."

I couldn't help cracking into a grin. "I must have missed you in my sleep," I said, teasing him. "I can sense when there's one very important person absent."

"Oh, stop it," he grinned back, pressing my hand even harder. He was kneeling on the floor, but now he sensibly decided to pull up the chair from the doorway up to my bedside so we could have a longer, more comfortable talk. When he was better settled, he reached up and lifted my hair away from my face.

Slowly he fingered the wicked-looking crimson slash tracing from my temple to my jaw. He drew his breath. "I wasn't expecting this," he whispered. "What happened to you?"

My chin trembled, and quickly I raised a hand to cover it as I felt the tears spring unbidden to my eyes. Here I was yet again, faced with the same decision as before--and yet, it was even more dangerous now. What would I choose? What _could_ I choose?

The tears started to fall, hot and fast against my face and burying themselves like rain in the snowy drifts of the blanket. "Please," I said, "I--I can't tell you."

Zac's golden eyes widened. "Winnie, what is going on? Why can't you tell me? What's happening to you?"

I shook my head. "It's too dangerous to tell you. I--I'm not the same anymore, Zac. That day when I fell unconscious, I was drugged. And I--and I--" I could hardly speak now through my sobs.

Gently he reached out and pulled me off the bed into his arms. "Shhh," he whispered, and rocked me slowly back and forth like a child. "Stop crying, Winnie. I won't talk anymore about it, if it will only cause you pain."

"It has already caused me more pain than I can bear," I replied. "It pains me to see you, so faithful...and I--and I am a traitor."

At this sudden outburst, he turned me around so he could look into my eyes. I could hardly meet his gaze; I tried to hide behind my arm, but he gently tugged away my hands and lifted my chin. "Winnie," he said slowly, "what are you talking about?"

All of a sudden, I felt so small and helpless like that, unable to tell him everything and seek comfort for fear of death. I was a child--trapped, pressed down, controlled in my mind.

Was this how my brother had felt?

I turned to Zac suddenly in my epiphany. "Jasper," I said, rather incoherently. "Jasper's no traitor. His mother knows that."

Zac knit his brows together in confusion. "But he turned against the gods."

"Not of his own will," I said. "His mother is not a Titan. He could have chosen to follow the path of the Olympian heroes. But the power of his Titan father was too strong."

Zac was silent; he simply seemed to be studying me as I spoke.

I knew now. Yes. I could tell him! I could not tell him directly, but I could through the story of my own brother Jasper.

"I know how it must have happened now," I continued. "One day, his father grew unhappy that he could not control his son. He saw that Jasper had certain powers that would be so invaluable to him, once leashed in his service. And so he sent one of his agents--another half-blood, perhaps, maybe even Demi--to subtly feed him poison. This drug would force him into a deep and black sleep, and thus his father would be able to commune with him privately--and link their minds together with magic. And from then on, when Jasper walked the face of this earth, he was no longer the same."

There was a long silence.

Then Zac raised his head and met my eyes. Yes, I could look through his eyes now. I could see that he understood.

"And so Kronos controls you now, Winnie."

I dared not say yes or no. I lowered my gaze again and dashed the tears from my eyes.

He pulled me even closer to him than before and wiped my eyes with his own hand. "Stop crying, Winnie. It'll be all right. I understand now." He began to rock me again, and wearily I let myself sink back against him.

"I can't speak of it anymore," I said at last, my voice hoarse. "Even now, I may have risked my life."

"But I must help you, Winnie." Zac's voice was more worried and urgent than ever before.

I shook my head vehemently. "There is no other way. I know that. I hear his voice in my head. He tells me I can only go one way to save myself and to save my brother."

Just as I spoke the the words, a million ghostly voices filled my head; I could hardly think. I heard the screams of the dying, the calls of my friends, and the overpowering thunder of Kronos. I heard a woman crying--was that my mother?

"There is no other way, Wynter," came her voice. "Forgive me..."

Was this a prophecy of the future?

Zac's voice suddenly came again, soft and clear.

"Yes, Winnie, there is a way."

**A/N: *rubs hands gleefully* I'm truly starting to get naughty again. Haha. Well, I can assure you, Aithne's role will start to expand, as well as Aleici's. Also, good ole Zac is going to try to save Winnie! By the way, remember Imani Knight, Saphiye-the-Night's character whom I borrowed in Blue Fire? Well, she just might reappear in the next chapter, or the chapter after that.**

**Please review! *puts on a puppy face***


	8. Chapter 8: A Fatal Mistake

**A/N: SOOO sorry for the months-long delay, guys! I know I've been cruel to you, especially to my long-time fans such as the beloved Avalonfreak. Avalonfreak, I'm sorry. I've been just so busy with ninth grade, and training to be a lifeguard besides, and writing a new fantasy novel at a furious pace, and compiling an art portfolio, and dabbling into drawing manga. So, there's all my excuses on a silver platter!**

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 8: A Fatal Mistake

I swallowed the tears that had found their way down my throat and slowly forced myself to look up at Zac again. "How?"

He gently drew me away and pulled up a chair for me to sit in. "First of all, tell me everything of your encounter with Kronos when you were...drugged."

I looked at him with wild confusion in my eyes. Then I snapped into realization, and I motioned to him for paper and a pencil. Quickly I scribbled down, with whatever knowledge of reading and writing I had gained from him, as much of my magical conversation in the dark with Kronos that day I had descended to him. Then, trembling, lest Kronos should somehow discover my design by listening, I silently handed the paper to Zac.

He took it and read it with the same wordless gravity, knowing also that my words could only be measured, and my life depended on them. Then he took the pencil and wrote a reply in his familiar scrawling print (which brought a momentary smile to my face):

_"If Kronos wants you as his spy, act as his spy. But give him the wrong information while we devise a plan to free you."_

I looked up at him, my eyes shining with awe. "Zac, you are a genius," I whispered.

He gave me a small smile. His golden eyes filled with some unreadable emotion, a mixture of joy and heartbreak and love all in one. Gently he drew me closer again and kissed the livid scar on my face as if it were the sweetest thing he'd ever seen.

"You got this slash for resisting," he whispered back. "Winnie...I'm so proud of you."

I swallowed hard. "I'll do it again."

I~I~I~I~I

_Knock knock_.

I started half out of my chair.

_Knock knock knock_.

"No need to be so impatient!" I yelled. "I'm coming!"

I padded barefoot across the cool floor of my hut and jerked the door open. My jaw jerked open as well.

"Wynter, you are just _so_ uncool, you know that?"

My eyes narrowed, and I gnashed my teeth. I tried to slam the door in her pretty little face, but with one flick of her wrist, she kept it open with an amazing strength. I growled. "Demi."

"Oh, yes, I know perfectly well your next question," she drawled with that enraging lilt in her voice, and added, "you pathetic little thing."

"You're not supposed to be here. You're supposed to be tied up in the Big House."

She laughed musically and waltzed into the room as if dancing to her own mirth, shutting the door with a triumphant note of finality. "Oh, yes, I'm always supposed to be tied up and left behind somewhere, aren't I? Like in the dark tunnel back in the days when you were still hunting down my fianceé Jasper Tenebris. But I always manage to get away." She smiled coyly.

I found myself backing away, despite my icy eyes glaring daggers into her mocking, Pacific blue cat-like orbs. "Jasper's not your fianceé, Demi. You're dreaming. He's my brother."

Demi completely ignored my indignant protest. "I _always_ get away, Wynter, no matter what you try. I have the whole camp tied up neatly like a string around my little finger. Why, my guard let me go."

My eyes widened. "You have an accomplice!"

A sudden dark laughter filled my mind, and I felt sick to the stomach at the mere sound of it. Kronos had returned to me, and he was listening; I could feel his restless movement almost within me. _Still surprised, Wynter? Get used to it. With my beautiful agent Demi, all things are possible._

I shuddered involuntarily. Then I was interrupted by Demi's sneer.

"He's telling you how potent I am, isn't he?"

I gave her an inhuman snarl. "All right, who is it? Who's your fellow evil-doer?"

She donned an air of musing and tapped her chin, looking slyly at the ceiling as if for inspiration. "Well, not counting you--"

"Shut up!" I roared.

She crossed her arms and pouted. "I was only answering your question."

_That is a question not to be answered, Wynter._

I wanted to protest, but in his awful presence, I absolutely could not. It was as if he ordered the very moments when I could speak.

_You are dismissed, Demi Cochemagne. Remain at the lookout until I give you another signal._

This particular message was obviously audible, since Demi said, "Of course, my lord," and waltzed back out the way she'd come.

_And now, Wynter, I want that information from you. How many able-bodied campers are there?_

I opened my mouth by habit to tell the truth, but then Zac's message flashed across my mind. I pretended to count on my fingers. "Including all cabins, sixty-seven, by my estimate."

Truth be told, there were nearly twice as many of us than that. I bit my lip. Would he believe me?

_Good. How many are on border patrol at midnight?_

At that moment, my inner spirit breathed the loudest sigh of relief ever possible. Then I was the old Wynter again, the street kid of a thousand names, the girl who read fortunes and told tall tales and called herself the gypsy Lidi--or Allie. With an effort, I refocused my attention from my sudden success to his present question.

"Uh...eight, I think," I replied. In truth, there were twelve to fourteen. A hidden four or six he didn't know about would certainly help.

_And what are the times of the watches?_

Again, I made a feint of thinking aloud and counting. "Uh...it starts at 8:00 until 11:00, 11:00 until 2:00, 2:00 until 5:00, 5:00 until 8:00." Of course, in reality there were only three 4-hour shifts. We were much more on our guard and most definitely more disciplined and swift in our switch of border patrols in between shifts.

_Ah, you have served me well, Wynter. Good work._

I bit my lip and trembled. "Kronos, I--" I stopped. It seemed so strange that I should even have the chance to address him by name; the word was so foreign on my tongue. "Kronos, you gave me a pledge. I have stood by my word, and you should fulfill your promise as well when the time comes."

_Stood by your word? Have you really?_

For one horrendous moment, an indescribable terror seized me by the collar and glared at me in the face. Did he know I was lying?

_Well, Wynter, we shall see. I trust that you have been truthful._

I breathed a humongous, inaudible sigh of relief once more. I recovered my wits as quickly as I could. "I have no choice," I said with a slight tone of resentment.

He laughed coldly. _Yes, Wynter, you are right there. I have you trapped. As Demi might say in that unusual and amusing language of hers, I have you tied on a string around my finger. Of course, you must obey me to free yourself._

I bit my lip again.

_Yes, I will keep my word, Wynter, if you keep yours,_ he continued. _But after that, I am free to do whatever I please. After I free you from our magical link, and after your mother gets her son, I will plan my moves stealthily but swiftly. And after that, I will kill you._

Just then, an awful feeling of dread crept up from the very tips of my toes to the roots of my hair. My mouth opened in shock. How could I know that Kronos was telling me the truth?

I hadn't even had him swear on the River Styx.

* * *

**A/N: *cackles evilly* Such a fatal mistake, eh? We'll see...**

**I know some of you, especially new readers, may be wondering what Demi's referring to in her statement "Like in the dark tunnel back in the days when you were still hunting down my fianceé Jasper Tenebris." That's an allusion to the first book, _Blue Fire_, preceding this, which I assure you is ten times better a story than this excuse for a fanfic. (Just kidding, just kidding.)**

**I really shouldn't be up and updating at 2 a.m., but I took pity on Avalonfreak and had to satisfy her curiosity. Thanks for reading, everyone!**

**Oh, and by the way, please review! *holds out hat for precious reviews***


	9. Chapter 9: The Oracle Rocks

**A/N: Okay, Avalonfreak, I give up. You win. Here's your "long, wonderful chapter coming soon" right here. I actually wrote this just now in approximately twenty minutes while my sister was writing her college bio lab report on plant hormones and mutation (cool! you should read about it) and I was waiting for her to finish so we could watch a movie or something. (Today's her last day of Thanksgiving break.) So, if there are any silly, stupid typos like there were in the last one, just ignore them.**

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 9: The Oracle Rocks

I honestly don't know how I ended up lying on my back smack dab in the middle of the mossy, muddy clearing in the forest. But when I woke up, I was.

A footstep fell close behind my head. I jerked fully awake and leaped to my feet. I instinctively reached for my sword at my side, but found it wasn't there. I whirled.

"Wynter? What are you doing out here?"

I breathed a mammoth sigh of relief. "Imani. It's been a while."

She ran a lean hand through her silky black hair and bent down to straighten me fully on my feet from my defensive crouch. Her stunning amethyst eyes flashed. "Yes, it has. Wynter...are you all right?"

I gave her a confused look.

"I've been...hearing things lately."

I sighed and gave in to that quiet, probing way of hers. "No, I'm not."

Her eyebrows shoved together in concern. "Why?"

I shrugged and shook my head. "Something...I should handle on my own."

She shot me a pragmatic look. "Are you sure about that?"

I nodded vehemently. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

She returned my strange look with something in between a smile and a frown. "If you say so," she sighed finally.

Suddenly a host of voices drifted our way into the clearing, growing stronger and clearer as the wind blew harder. I recognized the classic guitars and vocals of the campfire gathering.

"Oh, it's the campfire singing," Imani noted with audible relief.

I cocked my brow. "Why--" I started, then hesitated. "Why? Did you think it was something else?"

For the briefest moment, Imani looked unsure of whether to open her mouth and tell me or clamp it shut and keep her silence. Fortunately for both of us, it seemed, she chose the former. "Yes," she said simply.

I looked at her expectantly. "Why?"

"I--I have this strange thing about me," she confessed at last, her unsettling purple eyes flickering up at me and piercing mine before falling to the ground again. "I've never told anyone, and I've hidden it as long as I could, but on that quest that we had last...I almost let it out."

Now it was my turn to be confused. "What? Why?"

"I sort of have, uh, you could call them seizures, in a way," she explained. "I mean, that's what they look like to other people. It doesn't happen to me too frequently if I control myself. But--"

"But those aren't really abnormal," I objected with a measure of relief, having half-expected her to blurt out that she was a monster.

"No, yes, I mean, it happens at certain times," Imani went on, smiling a little bit at my tone and apparently guessing my thoughts. I'd never seen her smile at all before, and it was just all so startling to see her do it seemingly for the first time in my presence.

"I play the piano," she said. "And there was this tune that my mother Nyx always loved to hear or to play. My dad started hating it when I would play that melody, even though I really don't know sometimes how I end up at the piano playing it. It's like the piano is one of my only links to my mom, sort of my escape."

I pulled her down beside me and sit cross-legged on the mossy ground, leaning forward to listen even more intently and study her well-defined features in the slanted moonlight.

"One time my dad told me he had to take away the piano, or take me away from it. I totally freaked out, as you might say, and I started playing that tune which he so hated to hear since Mom went away. People always thought I needed help. So that night he sent me away to camp. And that's how I ended up here."

"Oh," I said. I gave her a shaky half-grin. "Well, then, I suppose that _isn't_ so normal. But I think I might understand where you're coming from." I paused, then turned back to her again. "You said it almost happened to you again on our quest."

She nodded vigorously and looked away. "When you sent me down to Hades."

"What happened?"

"You know how eating food from Hades will force you to stay there?"

I thought a moment, remembering the stories that Annabeth had told me. I nodded.

"Well, it seems like there are other ways that Hades tricks people into staying in his realm. I just found that out as I was walking toward you after distracting Cerberus. I heard that music coming toward me, like it was calling me, or like my mom was calling me, deeper and back into Hades. And I almost went there." She paused. "Thank the gods I saw you and the others walking away from Tantalus' tree, so I hurried up to you. Remember when I took you by surprise, and you almost screamed and said I scared you by popping out like a ghost?"

I grinned to myself, then reenacted my trembling antics. "Of course you scared me. And you said you might even _be_ a ghost."

She nodded solemnly. "I meant that. I could have gone to Hades."

"Oh," I said again. Suddenly I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry. Everyone has a weakness. Or, scratch that, weaknesses."

She pulled away for a moment and stared up earnestly at me with those violet irises that I still couldn't get used to. She searched my face. "Do you?"

I chuckled, and soon my chuckle turned into a laugh. How long ago my last laugh had been! Even Imani began to smile, too. Was there something so infectious about each one of us, I wondered?

"Of course I do," I said, calming down a little. "And it's a very bad one. My poor memory."

"Oh," she said, and thought a bit. "Oh, I see how that might be a weakness." There was a certain mischievous spark in her eye which I had never seen there before.

"Exactly right," I replied, filling in her thoughts. "You know how I couldn't even remember Demi's face from just a few weeks ago, when she was hounding me and even wanted to kill me? I didn't even recognize the evil in her eyes when she showed up a few days ago as Daisy Cookman, the newbie."

"Ah, I heard of her," Imani put in. "That's what I was thinking about. I heard something about a confusion, about how she was a spy or something like that."

I nodded with mock gravity written all over my face. "And that time I was kidnapped when I was four or five? I didn't even remember at all an ounce of what my dad looked like. I was in for a big shock when I met him in L.A. for seemingly the first time."

Imani rested her head against my shoulder again. "That really could be a big weakness."

I shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

I never knew at that point how true she could be.

I~I~I~I~I

"Wynter Wynter Wynter. Wake up, Winnie Wynter."

I groaned, and pretty soon that groan morphed into a growl. I flew out of bed with an invective on my lips. "Persephone's pomegranates, what is it?!"

Aithne started back. "Whoa."

My eyes widened, and I gasped, springing fully out of bed and attempting miserably to straighten myself. "I--I'm sorry," I stammered. "For some reason I thought you were Zac. I'm sorry I yelled at you. What is it?"

Aithne folded her arms and rolled her arms. "For starters, I think you should get all cleaned up first," she said, shooting me a pointed look.

I stared down at my half-muddy t-shirt and jeans from my previous night outdoors talking with Imani. "Uh...right-o," I said with a grin of embarassment, and whisked away with a jerk into the bathroom. I suppose my loud berating of myself could clearly be heard through the thin walls, paired with the careless sloshing of water as I washed my face and raked through my hair with a broken hairbrush and threw on a cleaner purple sundress all in a muttering, sputtering, slapdash manner.

Not bothering to clean up my muddy things sprawled in a heap on the floor inside the bathroom, I jerked myself out again, banging my iPod off along the way. Then I winced as I realized what I had done.

The room was suddenly quiet without the soft rock humming out my favorite tune. I looked up at Aithne, who I realized for the first time was astonishingly attractive. Of course, she was dressed in the usual orange t-shirt and denim shorts of a typical camper, but her fiery hair was really almost as red as mine, though perhaps a little deeper and more like a beautiful auburn, which I greatly envied.

"Hey, nice dress," she commented, giving me a thumbs-up.

I gave her a small, breathless laugh as I surveyed myself in the sleeveless safari-cut knee-length dress. "Uh...yeah. Zac's gift to me."

She gave me a real smile then. She looked like she was going to say something, but then she decided not to. Instead she motioned impatiently toward the door, though still with a little smile lingering around her. "Chiron wants to see you, that's what."

"Oh!" I exclaimed, and grabbed her hand and dashed out of the door. It happened that, like the genius I was, I left it open.

I~I~I~I~I

"Hello, Wynter and Aithne," said Chiron, wheeling himself around the doorway and into the cozy (albeit old) parlor of the Big House. "I see you have joined us."

I glanced around. There was Aithne beside me, and Imani just opposite, giving me a small wave and a shy smile. I grinned back at her, remembering last night. Then I saw Aleici with crossed arms leaning against the brick fireplace, flicking her glossy black braid back and forth over her olive shoulder. Percy was audaciously sharing the big armchair with Annabeth, who looked completely scandalized, as if he had pulled her down there beside her just half a second before I popped up.

And then, of course, there was Zac.

He didn't come exactly as I had expected him to. Instead, he came the last of us all, staggering in from the rickety kitchen door, shouting "Ow!" in a most undignified manner and shooting a murderous glare at whoever was behind that door. He made a clumsy effort to straighten himself, then broke into a humongous grin at the sight of me.

"Demeter kid caught me sneaking a bit of her lemon meringue pie," he whispered conspiratorially to all of us. "Honestly, I think she was overreacting."

Aithne and I rolled our eyes as one.

Chiron cleared his throat. "I called you all here because of a certain matter to be discussed. As you all know, you have all been involved either in Wynter's last quest or in the more recent events linking to it at camp, one way or another. We all have a problem to solve at hand."

I looked up at him hopefully. He caught my gaze and nodded slightly.

"I believe you are aware that this is a...private matter, of course," Chiron continued. "Thus, I suggest first that one of us consult the Oracle."

"You mean Rachel?" said Percy.

Chiron nodded. Since the last Oracle had died, Percy's mortal friend Racel Elizabeth Dare had taken her place.

I cast about an apprehensive look. "Um...anybody have an idea who's going, guys?"

They all looked at each other, then at me.

I threw up my hands in the air. "All right!" I sighed. "Percy, you promise me Rachel's not as creepy as the last Oracle?"

He nodded solemnly and clasped his hands in supplication, giving me a puppy look. "I promise." Then he burst out laughing, and soon the rest of us followed. It felt good to relieve the tension in us.

I drew back my shoulders and looked around. "Well? I guess I should be going."

Zac suddenly rose. "Not without me! I'm going to escort you personally to her little cabin here. Besides, you didn't really think I could resist staying away from you with that wonderful dress you're wearing?"

I'd forgotten about what I was wearing. I laughed.

I~I~I~I~I

Rachel's cabin was cozy and messy and completely unlike anything I had expected. Canvases were propped up on easels, some covered with sheets and some not, each one revealing an equally stunning portrait in varying degrees of completion. Music blared from somewhere on the side of the room, and a silk Chinese bathrobe had been flung on the unmade bed amid a pile of art supplies and a camera and a couple of ripped envelopes and postcards.

Zac knocked on the open door and leaned halfway in. "Hello? Rachel?"

A frizzy red head popped up without warning out of nowhere. A girl not too much older than I jerked herself our way, chewing some sort of granola bar or other health food, and wiping a paint-splattered finger on her already stained jeans. "Yeah? What's up?"

I poked my head up on tiptoe from behind Zac's broad shoulder. "_You're_ the Oracle?"

Rachel noticed me and grinned, holding up her granola bar as if in a toast. "Not what you're expecting, huh? So what is it?"

"Chiron sent me," I said truthfully.

"Oh, okay, come in then," she said, gesturing at us. She hurred over to lower the volume of her song.

"I love that number," I commented. "Have it on my player, too."

She grinned again, then sat down on the floor opposite us, where we had gingerly found seats on her cluttered bed. "So, what? You need a prophecy? Sorry, guys, I don't have one right now."

"So...you're not the mouldy-green-lady-spouting-eerie-mist-in-a-cobwebby-attic-and-scaring-the-wits-out-of-you type of Oracle?"

She laughed loudly. "No, of course not. But, thank the gods, that hasn't happened to me yet while I've been at boarding school."

"Oh," I said, with a mixture of relief and disappointment.

"_However_," Rachel said, springing up again, "Chiron might have been referring to the last prophecy, which I spouted out the minute I turned into the Oracle." She rummaged deep into the murky recesses of the drawers in her desk, pulling out each one and slamming it back halfway due to their overflowing contents. At last she cried "Eureka!" and waved a little booklet at us. She flipped it to a certain page and made as if to read it aloud.

"Wait. Don't say anything." My tone was certainly frantic, and I could tell she was puzzled, because her green eyes flashed in confusion as I grabbed the booklet from her. Sure enough, it was a prophecy of some kind, recorded on a single page of her green and pink leather diary in her scrawling shorthand.

_"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call._

_To storm or fire, the world must fall._

_An oath to keep with a final breath,_

_And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."_

"Sounds grim," Zac muttered.

Rachel was staring at me, openmouthed. She made as if to grab the diary back. "What is all this?"

I pressed a finger to my lips and quickly grabbed a pencil and scribbled on the page: _"Don't talk about the prophecy or anything related to it. Kronos is inside me and will hear you. We want this to be a secret."_

She gasped. "What the--" She stopped. "Oh, never mind. I should get used to all this by now."

We all breathed a sigh of relief.

I~I~I~I~I

"This is all very, very serious," said Chiron.

He didn't have to say aloud what it was, even if he wanted to. The very idea that I _might_ be part of the next Great Prophecy was too overwhelming.

"How do we know?" said Annabeth.

"Simply a sign from the gods," said Chiron. "But I know you are tired, and I do not want to keep you up. Besides, the dinner hour is nearly over. You are all dismissed. I'll have the Demeter cook on duty give you a fresh stock of food."

"Gee, thanks," Aithne muttered, rubbing her forehead with a hand and stretching. We all didn't bother to argue and shuffled accordingly to the door.

We were all very silent as we filed into the dining pavilion; even if we wanted to talk about it, of course they couldn't as long as they were in my presence. Being in my presence, I realized, was like being in the presence of Kronos. Immediately my chest throbbed, and I felt bad for my friends.

Just then, the low murmur and chatter of the remaining kids around us stopped abruptly.

I looked up.

It had been cloudy over Camp Half-Blood for the latter half of the afternoon, but all of a sudden it was really dark. It couldn't be a storm--it never stormed in camp. But then I realized what was happening. The skies were rolling away and the sullen clouds were parting, and one by one there shot through the sky brilliant shafts of electric blue light.

The first one centered on me. I nearly dropped my food in surprise.

Then another came down and rested on Zac, who was equally flabbergasted. Then another hit Annabeth, then Percy, then Imani, then Aleici, and finally Aithne.

Aleici's mouth was shaped like a little _O_. Annabeth was glaring at Percy, who had literally dropped his food, and Imani was gazing up into the sky. Her lips were moving. Aithne crossed her arms and apparently didn't realize what was happening until she caught us all staring at each other, including at her.

Her arms dropped to her sides.

"Oh crap!" she said.

* * *

**A/N: I really never say the word "crap," but I decided to because that's Aithne's character, per the request of Avalonfreak. And YES, Saphiye-the-Night's character Imani Knight is BACK!**

**That idea about Wynter being the child of the next Great Prophecy from PJO was spontaneous. Hope you like it! Expect more surprises! Thanks, as always, to Avalonfreak to her wonderfully inspiring bounciness and importunity.**

**As always, please review! Thanks!**

**~TOIMI**


	10. Chapter 10: The Impossible Quest

**A/N: Yay! I'm updating more frequently now, do to my reviewers' encouragement. Thanks, Avalonfreak and Vera Amber!**

**Additional disclaimer: I don't own _Man of la Mancha_ or Shakespeare's _Julius Caesar_. Maybe only my overly supportive sister would disagree.**

Chapter 10: The Impossible Quest

"A sign from Zeus!" Aleici exclaimed.

Suddenly I noticed the tearful joy written all over Imani's face. Why was she looking up? Curious, I lifted my gaze too and almost gasped from surprise.

There was my mother, her hair ablaze and her violet eyes flashing, as she floated in the air seemingly just a foot above me, smiling benignly on me and bathing me in her Zeus-given blue light. Slowly she came down at last to stand beside me, but it seemed as if no one else saw her, for the kids were clearly staring only at us seven.

_Wynter. My daughter._

I bowed my head in respect. She was speaking into my mind. _Mother._

_Wynter, I know what has taken place in you. Do not be afraid. I have never forgotten you._

I heaved a deep sigh. _You were in this._

_Forgive me, Wynter._

I jerked my head up. My mother? Hecate? A goddess? Asking for my forgiveness?

_I felt I had no choice, Wynter. He would have killed my son--your brother--if he did not have his way. I was willing to give him the information myself, but he was cruel. He demanded to have your body. Wynter, please forgive me._

I swallowed the hard lump of tears rising unbidden to my throat, then quickly dropped my gaze again to hide the wetness in my eyes. _Why do you ask my forgiveness? Surely you only knew what was best for me._

She said nothing for an eternally long moment; then, with a small, sad smile, she placed a glowing hand on my shoulder. _There are things in the future that not even your scrying power cannot tell, things that only I can begin to have the worst nightmares of. I have--I have risked your life, Wynter. Forgive me._

Slowly, I raised my head again. _You have my forgiveness, Mother. Believe me, I would die for you if it would make you happy._

_Thank you so much, Wynter. Never before have I seen such love in a half-blood for her immortal parent._

_I know you care for me,_ I said simply. _Your magic has always protected me, even from the day I was born._

She broke into a true smile then. _And it will always protect you, Wynter. You have made me proud. _Her smile faded. _I know the evil wolf of the future that haunts you, and this token that I give you may be your last chance to save that future._ She took my hand in hers and pressed something small and hard into the depths of my palm. _Guard this well, Wynter. Keep it safe, and you will live._

With a brief, airy kiss on my brow, she rose on invisible wings, and the light disappeared.

I looked down at the small something in my hand. It was a brown leather thong necklace with a circular clay pendant, divided into quarters and etched with symbols.

"Wynter?"

I started. "Yes, Aithne."

"I think it really is time to go."

I~I~I~I~I

I heaved a deep sigh. The picture in my hand was only the size of a wallet photo, but it certainly held a lot of meaning in that tiny space. There was my dad, looking so much younger and with his light brown hair a little thicker and darker, smiling with his beautiful teeth and holding up his baby daughter, whose wild red hair matched her wild blue eyes. They were both laughing, as if they'd seen a clown walking by with his painted red mouth dripping askew.

I'd only really known my dad for less than a month, and now here I was again, stuffing my things in a purple Columbia backpack and jamming my iPod into my skirt pocket and impatiently jerking on my sandals as I prepared for the quest of my life. I was going to leave Dad again--for how long, I didn't even want to imagine. It seemed that I just could never get settled down before one unpleasant surprise after another cropped up in my short orphaned fourteen years of life. Correction, this was a _very_ unpleasant surprise. My first quest a few weeks before had been nothing compared to this; I had had nothing to lose but my own skin. Now, I had to worry about Dad, Zac, my friends, Kronos, and basically the fate of the entire world. This was not my idea of a break from living on the sidewalk. Right now, I would have given anything to erase time and be back doing my cartwheels and backflips in the abandoned parking lot in NYC.

But then, of course, I wouldn't have met Zac.

My turmoil of musings and anger was (thankfully) interrupted by a loud knock on the open door, clearly meant to be heard over the blaring of my iPod. I gave a little exclamation and punched the music off. "Yeah?"

It was Zac, swinging his arms as he sauntered over from his previous station at the doorway. He came over without saying a word; then, when he was right next to me, he looked down over my shoulder at the picture still in my hand. "You really love him, don't you?"

I nodded silently. Then, heaving a deep sigh and unsuccessfully affecting a cheerful tone, I said, "Well? You ready?"

He nodded back. Then he handed me a slip of paper, which I took quietly and struggled to read: _"Rachel said the purpose of our quest is to find Jasper and stop Kronos before..."_ Here it stopped abruptly. I looked up at him: we knew exactly what he meant. What could be more unpleasant than an attack at camp that would be the end of the world?

Zac carried on his silence, just for measures of precaution, in case the demon inside me could hear. I noted his wary look and placed my thin hand on his arm with a wan smile. "It's all right," I whispered. "He's asleep."

He gave me an odd, one-sided smile to match my weary one and pulled me closer in a hug. It was so brief, less than a second, it seemed, but the fire was still there.

I sighed. "Well!" I exclaimed. "So where are the others?"

"Here," he said.

Five heads peeped round the doorway, then slowly filled in their bodies. I stopped and took count; they all looked so different from how I usually saw them.

Percy, of course, couldn't be so different, considering he was a guy and only wore green t-shirts and blue jeans. But Annabeth beside him had tied the top half of her light gold curls back in a braid, and she was wearing clean-cut bermudas with a white t-shirt. _Very practical,_ I thought. Aleici was wearing some green or dark brown outfit or other, and her hair was caught up in a single braid as it usually was, but her expression was peculiarly grim. _Probably going to be a lot of healing needed on this quest,_ I said to myself. Imani was her usual quiet self, except now she wore something less noticeable than a black tunic and dark skinny jeans in the middle of August--this time, she had a black tank on with silver shorts and a silver belt. _Perfect daughter of the night._

Aithne seemed to have tried (unsuccessfully) several times (repeat, several) to tame her flaming hair into some sort of ponytail, but apparently that hadn't worked, so now she just had it clipped hastily at the sides with half-charred, mismatched bobby pins. I grinned at her, and she folded her arms and rolled her eyes at me, guessing my thoughts.

Our goodbye to Chiron was a very swift and silent one; hardly a word was spoken, and certainly no one saw us descending the hill at five o'clock in the morning, save my dad. I twisted round in the seat of Argus' van and searched for him--sure enough, his tall and forlorn figure was silhouetted atop the hill against the rising blood red sun, and he was raising his hand in farewell. I slowly waved back.

I~I~I~I~I

Pretty soon, we ended up precisely smack dab in the middle of nowhere. Precisely, smack dab in the middle of Broadway.

"What in high Olympus are we doing here on _Broadway_, for Pete's sake?" Aithne demanded, flipping her wild red hair over her shoulder and sighing in exasperation as it finally wriggled free of her broken bobby pins. "Why were we dropped off _here_, of all places? What could Zeus have been thinking?"

I sighed. "Unfortunately--"

"Hence!" quoth Zac suddenly. "Wilt thou lift up Olympus?"

Aithne, Annabeth, and I all rolled our eyes one by one. "That's from _Julius Caesar_, Mr. Sunshine," Annabeth reminded him. "Act III, Scene 1. And that is _not_ a Greek Olympus."

"Hey, I didn't know you read," I teased Zac with a jab of my elbow and the tiniest of smiles lingering around my lips, and added for good measure, "Mr. Sunshine."

"Hey, that hurt," he returned, rubbing his allegedly sore arm but throwing me a loving glance anyway.

"So, which way?" Aleici interrupted, toying with the tail of her braid and looking about her distractedly. "Where are we headed?"

I took a deep breath and blew it out with a long, low whistle. I rubbed my sweaty forehead with a hand as I paused for a moment. "We're finding Jasper," I began, my voice equally low as well. "You guys all know the prophecy, right?"

The others all nodded in turn.

"Okay," I continued. "Well, I know I'm jumping to the end, but that line--_And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death._ Don't you think we should start somewhere around there?"

"The Doors of Death?" Percy squeaked. "You mean, um, you mean, L.A.? You mean, um, _Hades_?"

Annabeth jabbed him.

I nodded grimly, at the same time cautioning him to silence with a finger on my lips.

"But we were just there a few weeks ago," he grumbled.

I sighed. "We'd best get moving, before _he_ wakes up inside me."

Aleici nodded sensibly. "Besides," she added with a hint of dark humor in her black eyes, "we're traveling in a group, so our demigod aura is very strong. The shorter we stop over at any one place, the smaller chance that we'll be attacked by a monster, and the even smaller chance that I'm going to have to use up all my powers healing a bunch of idiots who don't know how to run." She shot pointed looks at Percy and Zac. Percy looked chastised, which made Annabeth smile involuntarily, but Zac still protested.

"Hey, what does everybody have against me, you guys?" he complained.

"Your being cute, idiot," Imani told him in a tone of totally bored humor.

I blinked. _Wow. Imani's changing._ Maybe this quest was good for all of us, after all.

"Ditto, Sunshine," said Aithne, tossing her hair in the breeze.

I threw up my hands in mock frustration.

I~I~I~I~I

"Let's see, the nearest train station is probably about ten or eleven blocks from here," I informed my followers, trying to recall my wild days running around the city. By my calculations, I was just about correct.

"Don't worry, we're fine," Annabeth assured us.

"Yeah-huh," Percy affirmed.

"Stop echoing me, Seaweed Brain!" the blonde girl scolded him, but laughed anyway.

"Yeah, Kelp Head," Aithne threw in for good measure.

I guess I felt kind of bad for Percy and Zac for being two guys amid five girls, and for always being picked on, but I certainly didn't have the urge to stop it right then. We all needed as much humor as we could get so our nerves didn't all snap right there on Broadway.

"This is _so_ not going well," I chuckled. "Aithne, what is it between you and Percy? Frenemies or what?"

Aithne rolled her eyes, a habit which she seemed to have picked up somewhere. "Go figure. Water doesn't mix with fire, chica."

"They don't mix," Percy agreed with a sage nod. "Because water douses out fire."

"Unless it's Greek fire, Surfer Boy!" Aithne bristled. "Remember, you're not the only one with a parent who's one of the powerful Twelve."

"Hestia _used_ to be one of the 'powerful Twelve'," Percy muttered.

"Excuse me! I heard that!"

I sighed.

"What? I was just stating the facts."

"Well, if not for that lousy idiot wine dude sitting up there on my mom's most undeserved seat, she would still _be_ one of the Twelve!"

"Percy, cut it," said Annabeth. She shot him a warning look that totally read _Not you and your stupid blabbermouth again_.

"You too, Aithne," I said wearily. "Don't want any fights so soon along our journey."

"Or trouble," Aleici added. "Don't want to look like a rowdy gang. Look."

She pointed. Up ahead was a policeman, coffee in hand, probably just off his break and walking the beat again.

"Oh, wonderful," I sighed in true relief. "I need some real directions here." I looked back and shot everyone a warning look that clearly told them, _Don't you dare raise a fight again._

With my heart finally beating at a normal pace, I hurried up to the police officer, who was insanely tall compared to my undersized frame and who looked like a sterner version of my dad. That is, a _much_ sterner version. I shrugged to myself and took the opportunity anyway. "Hello, Officer!" I called out politely when I was about five feet away and quickly approaching him. "I need some directions. Could you possibly point me to--"

I stopped dead in my tracks. Oh, no.

The policeman chucked his empty coffee cup into a nearly receptacle and came to stand about a foot away from me, arms akimbo. "Looking for something, Naomi?"

I could feel my jaw slowly detaching itself.

He came closer and folded his arms with a steely look. "Or maybe I'm mistaken--are you the girl called Lidi? Or perhaps Ranyaba?"

I took a step back. He surged forward and grabbed me by the arm. Before I knew what was happening, he had whipped me around to face forward and slammed me against the hood of a nearby car. "I think you've changed your name to Allie, haven't you, street scum?"

I could hear the clink of the handcuffs jingling on his belt. I gritted my teeth to keep a string of curses from tumbling uncontrollably out of my mouth. _Think like Imani, not Aithne,_ I told myself. _Calm down. You can talk your way out of this. Keep calm._ I suppressed a growl and swore to myself instead. _Oh Zeus. This absolutely can_not_ be happening to me. An arrest? Please, I'd happily go to jail any other time, but not now!_

The handcuffs snapped shut on my wrists and screwed them tight together. "Now I can properly arrest you," said the officer. "You have a long-standing record of trespassing and burglary, Kay."

Right. I'd told the police last time that my name was Kay Panabaker. Before then, it had been either Allie O'Malley or Naomi Watts. But I swear, I always paid for my drinks at the deli. I was elusive, but I was never that dishonest. And that abandoned parking lot? That was _abandoned_.

"In addition, you have double charges for resisting all previous arrests."

Oh, great. Come on, can't a girl just practice her backflips on the police?

"And as far as I can see, you have prospective juvenile charges of being found with a group of youths of questionable character."

I winced. Now that I thought of it, the boys must look like a pair of loafers and out of school youth, Annabeth like a teenage computer hacker, Imani like a Goth teen hooker in her silver shorts, Aleici like a runaway or a psychic with that funny expression on her face, and Aithne like the typical I'll-kill-you-because-I'm-angry-at-the-whole-world punk.

_Please, Zac,_ I prayed with all my heart. _Why the Hades won't you turn your head and see what's happening?_

"And you have a final, additional charge," said the policeman triumphantly, as he drew my sword from under my belt. "Illegally bearing arms."

I stared at him in shock. He could see through the Mist?

* * *

**A/N: I'll spare you the suspense. No, the policeman is _not_ a monster. But he certainly is a weird human.**

**I tried to flesh out my borrowed characters more. As always, thanks to Aish Sheva for Aleici, Saphiye-the-Night for Imani, and Avalonfreak for Aithne! In case you didn't get it, the chapter title is a pun of "The Impossible Dream" from the musical _Man of la Mancha_. And again, I don't own _Julius Caesar_! (If you're confused as to what the quote means, it means simply, "Will you defy the will of Olympus?".)**

**Please review! Pretty please, with a blueberry on top! (Yeah. I like blueberries better than cherries.)**

**Thanks!**

**~Katrina Mae**


	11. Chapter 11: Fury of Furies

**A/N: *jaw drops* 3,774 words? Without the Author's Note? Wow, I'm really getting inspired...**

**Thanks for the review, Avalonfreak! *gangsta huggles* As you can see, I already have updated. *dances and smiles madly***

**So, all my fans, please read and enjoy!**

Chapter 11: Fury of Furies

"A-aren't you at least going to read me my rights first?" I sputtered.

The policeman laughed and hefted my sheathed sword in his hands. "What a tough gal you are, huh? Playing a modern Joan of Arc, or what?"

I couldn't resist the urge. I spat at his feet. Then my eyes widened. "B-but you're a mortal! Tha-that's a sword! How can you..."

He chuckled and shook his head, then threw aside my sword to the ground, where it clanked against the metal grate and slipped halfway into the sewer before it caught itself at the hilt. He gripped me by the front of my shirt and lifted me literally off my feet. "Listen," he breathed into my face, "you demigods are sickening to the stomach. Strutting around, wielding menacing weapons in our faces, pretending to be the heroes of the day and acting like perfect brats. Maybe it's time someone else was in charge, what do you say?"

I noted with an inner twinge of anger that the mortals passed us by with strange looks and sometimes hesitation, but eventually they all went their way down the sidewalk without a second thought.

"Hey!"

I whipped my head around. Zac! Thank the gods.

"You get off her this instant, Officer!"

The policeman turned, but he didn't loosen his grip one bit. "And who are you?"

Zac placed his fists on his hips and struck an imposing stance. For once, I was glad that he was so much taller than I was. "My name is not important. Release her, Officer."

Without ceremony, the policeman dropped me like a hot potato. I landed with a loud thud and a clank on the dusty sidewalk, coughing. Zac dropped his stance and hurried over to me with worry creasing his brow. "Winnie? Are you all right?"

I nodded weakly and struggled to sit up, which was a trial with my handcuffed hands.

"I bet you a million bucks her name isn't Winnie," the policeman remarked sarcastically, leaning against the hood of the car with a hand on his hip.

"I bet you my life it is," Zac retorted. "And I bet you a million lifetimes over that you're going to get in trouble for manhandling an innocent."

"I'm not that innocent, Zac," I muttered under my breath.

"Doesn't matter," he whispered back.

"Plus, you ommitted giving her the Miranda Rights," Annabeth cut in, folding her arms and cocking a brow coolly at the officer. "Four of them."

"Let her go, stinker," said Aithne.

I would have burst my guts laughing at that in any other situation, but as it was, my present situation wasn't exactly comfortable.

Grumbling, he searched his belt and produced a jangling pair of keys. Reluctantly he unlocked my handcuffs and yanked them off. His attitude had suddenly changed from aggressive to whining. "Hey, no hard feelings, 'kay, kiddos? I was just having a bit of fun. I never got to be a demigod, you know!"

I gritted my teeth against the searing pain. Hecate's heresies (pardon the expression). I must have dislocated my shoulder.

"You see what you've done?" Aleici exclaimed. She surged forward and laid a hand on my injured shoulder, sending a warm tingle down my back. She gave me a gentle push, and with only the slightest twinge of pain and the smallest _oof_ on my part, my shoulder was back in its place.

"I'm going to get you for this," Aithne growled. "Don't forget, a daughter of Hestia can be best friends with the goddess Nemesis."

"Or Nyx," Imani added.

I smiled thinly. Zac slowly helped me up from the ground onto my feet, and gingerly I dusted myself off, still flexing my somewhat sore arms. Seeing my discomfort, Zac wrapped himself around me and gently massaged my shoulders.

"Uh-oh," said Percy suddenly.

I whipped my head around at his voice. But it wasn't him I saw--it was the policeman. Or rather, the lack of a policeman. He was suddenly and swiftly morphing into a taller, glowing silvery being, wearing a very ancient Greek tunic and sporting a snowy beard. But wait a minute...there were two beards. I looked up.

This guy had two heads?

Annabeth sighed and ran a hand through her sunny hair. "Oh please, not _you_ again, Janus."

I wondered if I'd heard right. Noting my flabbergasted look, Aleici nodded. "He's the god of choices," she informed me. "And the New Year."

Without further thought, I planted myself squarely in the path of this double-faced guy Janus (how ironic). "So," I said, my eyes flashing dangerously in their icy light. "You've been haunting me all these years, Janus, disguised as that pesky police officer."

One of the heads gave me a toothy grin. "Your mother's orders."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right."

The other head suddenly snapped awake and bonked its skull against the other one with a resounding _thwack_. "Idiot, Hecate didn't hire you. You hired yourself!"

"Correction!" shrilled the first head. "Nobody hired me, and I hired nobody!"

"There, see, you contradicted yourself!"

"No, I didn't. Hecate's a nobody. And she hired me!"

Percy groaned. I bristled. "Excuse me!" I cut in. "If you two are not going to do anything better besides argue and call my mother names, I highly suggest you leave, or else."

The first head snickered. "Or else what?"

I placed a hand at my side. "Or else this--" I realized my sword wasn't there. It was still sticking half out of the gutter like a knife in butter.

"So," thundered the second head, "at last I have your attention."

"We," snivelled the first head.

"Shut up!" the other one roared.

This was _so_ not going well.

"So, Mr. Two-faced-god-of-bifurcation-and-the-New-Year-and-snivelling-snotty-whining-heads," said Aithne, "in case you didn't notice, we're in a big hurry."

"Fine," the second head growled. He turned to look straight at me.

He was already speaking into my head before he even spoke. My eyes widened as my mind registered my shock.

"Let one fall," said the first head in his shrill voice.

"--Or let yourself," the booming voice of the second one finished.

I understood exactly what he meant. Those were my two choices.

"Winnie?"

I turned to Zac slowly, dazed.

"Winnie! Are you okay?"

The horror must have been written all over my face.

"Um...Mr. Pickled-double-faced-Socrates is starting to fade," Aithne informed me. "You got any questions for him?"

"Excuse me!" the second head bellowed, as Janus' body quickly reappeared again. "I am not Nereus. I am _not_ the old man of the sea!"

"We," sighed the first head reproachfully.

"Shut up! You don't exist."

"Oh, yeah? You stuck-up, domineering, belligerent walrus!"

"_Walrus?!_"

"Ugly! Meanie!"

A weary smile began to twitch at the corners of my mouth. "Okay, quit it," I sighed, and ran a bony hand through my flaming waves. "One question, though: Am I still under arrest?"

"You're free to go," the first head pouted sullenly.

"--As long as you complete your quest," the second one butted in.

I frowned. "As if _you_ were any help."

Imani was toying absently with a silver bracelet around her wrist when suddenly she glanced up. "Lord Janus," she began with a new, dangerous undertone to her quiet voice, "my ears are quickly becoming tired. I think it's time for me to call up the ravens."

The two heads grinned nervously, then gave us innocent-little-kid looks. "Uh, then I guess that means so long for now, kiddos!" they both said at the same time in the policeman's old voice. He began to glow, and instinctively we shielded our eyes from the bright light as he disappeared in a flash.

Sighing, I bent down to fish my sword from the grate. Zac knelt on the curb beside me while the others muttered among themselves behind us. "You don't look all right," he noted.

"I think I made that a little too obvious," I joked morosely. With a final yank, I freed my sword and caught the scabbard just as it was slipping off.

"So--"

We both stopped: my sword.

The hilt was glowing blue.

And blue meant monsters.

Oh Styx, give me a break.

Imani had already whipped out her flashing silver dagger, and Annabeth had drawn her celestial bronze one. A bow and a quiver of arrows appeared in Aleici's hands out of nowhere, while Percy struggled to uncap his pen-sword Riptide. Aithne had weapons, too, but the expression on her face clearly told me she would much rather tear apart each invader with her bare hands.

Zac and I shared one glance full of shock, confusion, anger, and determination. Perhaps not determination on my part, but rather emotional constipation.

They sprang at us three seconds too early. The first one struck me down in the chest, completely winding me, long before I could draw my sword.

"Thinking of becoming a tasty meal, my dear?" the granny-faced bat drawled in my face. Her claws dug into my shoulders.

"I'd rather eat one!" I growled, and reached for my sword with a yell. I wrenched myself away from her and extinguished the shrieking Fury in a cloud of ashes in a blink. I blinked again. That was easy.

Way too easy.

I felt the hot breath on my neck long before I heard that ear-shattering bellow. The sidewalk kept jumping up and down under my feet as if it had the butterflies, and I tumbled to my hands and knees on the rough pavement. Bad time of year to fall on chipped cement, considering it was summer and I was wearing nothing to protect my skin.

That roar was enough to wake the dead. Seriously. I was afraid to look up, but like the idiot I was, I did anyway. It was humongous, and its skin looked like blackened toast with lava oozing out of it like cheddar cheese. Its feet were probably size 20, the size of tree trunks. But that wasn't the worst part--it breathed fire.

Directly at me.

Why did I get the feeling that my legs were like jelly?

With my last ounce of presence of mind left, I clenched my fist around the hilt of my sword and crouched defensively. Then my sword began to pulsate wildly in the most unearthly shades of green and blue and purple, and in a flash I knew what to do. _Thanks for the alarm clock, Mom_.

Had I forgotten my abilities? I sucked in a deep breath and breathed out again, except what came out wasn't carbon dioxide. It was a blazing ball of blue fire that went hurtling up at the monster's eyes; it struck against the crimson flames with a tiny explosion of sparks. Then the ball started to melt and spread into a thin wall of bluish ice.

The giant monster, confused, bellowed again. Then an arrow suddenly whizzed past me and ripped through the wall of ice, shattering it into a gazillion shards. I fell down with a gasp, my heart feeling as if it had been wrenched out.

The arrow struck home in the creature's left bicep, but it didn't do much to weaken it, only annoy it. And when it was annoyed, it apparently became more violent.

"Sorry," said Zac, his bow still poised from the aim. "Didn't expect that."

All around me was a mass confusion of screaming winged hags, the remaining sisters of the Fury that had attacked me. People were either staring in shock or yelling like kids at recess and scrambling for their cars and their lives. I guessed randomly that they saw a tiger, just like they had thought through the Mist that the griffon from the last quest had been a giant lion. Not noticing the mortals, but sweating profusely, Annabeth and Percy were back to back stabbing the smaller hellhounds that had come along, while Imani and Aleici were working at a furious pace to beat back the whips of the granny-faced meanies. Aithne was nowhere to be found.

I jolted out of my daze at the suddenly strong voice rising above the crackling of the flames. "You there!"

Aithne? What the freaking Flora was she doing standing on the stone memorial to Mr. Whoever-built-this-crumbling-train-station? Correction: she was standing in a half-crouch over the marble guy's head with her feet planted squarely on his broad shoulders, brandishing her ash-covered dagger at the monster, as if she were shooing a five-month-old puppy called Spot.

Thankfully for me, but unfortunately for her, Mr. Flame Guy turned fully in her direction at the sound of her voice.

Aithne bristled, not even for a moment fazed. "I am Aithne, daughter of Hestia, lady of the fire!" she said. "I am the daughter of the last Olympian. I am a wielder of the Flame!"

Was she crazy?

Zac notched an arrow and drew the string of his bow taut against his ear. Aithne shot us a look of pure anger: _You're wasting your arrows. Don't even think of it._

Aithne's mouth was then moving silently in some swift, short prayer--or at least what I hoped it was, not a muttering of her last words. Then she flung back her head and gave the monster a blazing look of defiance which I couldn't help but pity and admire at the same time. "Kakos, by the power of Hestia," she bellowed, "die!"

I hadn't expected that last part to come from her.

She hurled her dagger straight at the monster's heart. But her blade, instead of shooting straight ahead, was spinning faster and faster as it sped through the air, gaining speed and strength--and, to the total disbelief of my eyes, bursting into crimson and purple flames.

In a second, it rammed home. Soon there was nothing left but a humongous pile of ashes, some lava sullenly leaking into the gutters, and a very cracked and steamy Broadway. In the distance, I could already hear the police sirens wailing.

I groaned. "Percy, Annabeth, I know you hate the police at times like this. And as for me, I don't want to go to jail for juvenile delinquency just yet. After the quest, but not now."

"Right," said Aleici. "So let's go."

I~I~I~I~I

"That should just about do it," Zac muttered through the gauze pad between his teeth as he taped the bandage over my shoulder firmly in place. "Gee, Winnie," he grumbled with a half-smile, "why do you always get yourself hurt?"

I plastered on a fake smile against the stinging pain, but I knew I couldn't fool him. "Try answering back to a hungry Fury," I said, then suddenly hissed and sucked in my breath through my teeth as he pressed down gently on the bandage. He cast me an apologetic glance.

"Well..." he took the extra gauze out of his mouth and chucked it back into his backpack. He fished around in its depths and quickly produced a tumbler of that familiar glowing honey-like drink. "Take a few sips of nectar. A triple claw scratch like that will take forever to heal without some sort of godly medicine."

"Right." I gave him a shaky nod and did as I was told.

"You all right, Wynter?"

I started half to my feet, then sank back down against the sturdy tree behind me when I realized it was Aithne. "Yeah," I mumbled. "Thanks for saving me."

She flexed her arms. "Aw, jeez, Wynter, I just like beating the crap out of those guys."

"Um...but that was Kakos."

"Yes, yes, the giant fire-breather whom only Hercules defeated, I know, I know," she repeated with a sigh of exasperation. "Come on, why doesn't anybody trust my abilities?" A smile twitched around her mouth.

I laughed lightly. "Hestia must be so proud of her daughter."

She bit down hard on her lip till it turned white, and her entire face flushed berry red. She mumbled something bashfully and quickly excused herself.

"Hey, Winnie! Want some barbecue?" Annabeth called over to me from the warm glow of the campfire.

I smiled and shook my head. "No, thanks. I think I'll just sleep." I shivered involuntarily and pulled my clean zip-up sweatshirt closer around me. My legs, though, were still cold, considering I had grown an inch or so since the last quest, and I was still wearing the same knee-length denim skirt.

"I think you'll be able to sleep better by the fire," said Zac. He picked me up, lifted me, and gently set me down in the softer grass by the warm glow of the campfire. Camping out in the middle of the backwoods in western Pennsylvania and sticking yourself with twigs everywhere you lay down was bad enough, but having to listen to your own teeth chattering in the dark was even worse. It certainly did pay off to have a staunch Hestia kid as your friend--especially if her hobby was lighting magically warm bonfires. Aithne was an expert at this, so she roasted the barbecue like a pro, adjusting the flame with her powers accordingly and even changing the color from orange to green to yellow to pink to purple for our own amusement.

"Get some rest," said Zac. "I'll wake you up in an hour for the next watch."

My eyes flew open. "Hey!!!"

He burst out laughing and pushed me back down again. "Just kidding, just kidding. Sleep all you want. You'll need it."

"So do you, Mr. Sunshine," I said with mock sullenness in my voice, but I was betrayed by the smile behind my eyes.

He tousled my hair with his big, warm hand, something he hadn't done before. His dorky grin grew into a gentle smile, and he laid me down again. "Sweet dreams," he said. "Gods, I wish I had my guitar."

"Shut up," I muttered with a stifled laugh into the sleeve of my sweatshirt.

I~I~I~I~I

There was no mistaking that trembling deep inside me, steadily growing louder and more intense. He was awakening.

_Wynter._

I gulped. _Yes, Kronos._

_What a warm night, isn't it? So peaceful._

I frowned. _And you will destroy that peace. All peace and hope that is left at Camp Half-Blood._

_Why, yes, of course, Wynter!_ he chuckled, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. _Surely you don't expect me to preserve the lives of a hundred worthless, ill-trained demigods and lose my only chance to gain over Olympus._

_Innocent still, no matter how worthless to you._

His laughter grew dark and low. _I care not for your ideals, Wynter. They are but another reason for me to get rid of you once you have served your purpose._

I gritted my teeth. _You mean once you have fulfilled your oath, treacherous snake._

_Ah, yes! The oath!_ he said, drawing out a long, slow chuckle once more. _A pity you forgot to make me swear on the River Styx, eh?_

_You deserve to stay in Tartarus, forktongue,_ I shot back.

Suddenly a sharp sting pierced the skin of cheek, as if he'd slapped me. The pain was momentary, but a heavily unpleasant, almost sickening feeling lingered in my gut. _I do not brook impudence from my servants, Wynter,_ he said softly.

I found myself breaking out into a sweat.

_Rebellion has its prices, Wynter. Manifold prices. You are not the only one I want. When I said I will destroy all half-bloods, I meant all._

My eyes widened. No! Zac!

The sound of his laughter was so sinister that I felt I would throw up from the force of it. _And not only that. I will eliminate all traces of your parentage--through you._

My heart sank. I felt crushed. He was going to kill Dad, and I could do absolutely nothing about it. I _was_ Kronos.

_Yes, you will watch them all die before your eyes, one by one, Wynter, and by your own hand. And then you shall be the last to die._

My breath came in ragged gasps. _Stop._

A sudden kick in my side shot a pain up my spine that made me scream. _No one tells me when to stop. Especially not you._

I was sobbing now. _Please, stop. Stop it, please. You're hurting me!_

_How am I hurting you?_ he mused slowly. _With my blows, or with my words? With your body, or with your heart? With the imprisonment of your mind, or with the loss of your love?_

A scream of despair ripped from my throat.

I~I~I~I~I

"Winnie? Winnie! Wake up, Winnie!"

My eyes flew open. I lurched forward, breathing heavily. I could feel the sheen of sweat glistening on my brow. Zac was leaning over me, concern filling his eyes.

I pushed him away with a trembling hand. I managed to crawl away a few feet into the darkest shadows, where I doubled over and threw up whatever was left of my meager dinner.

Zac's warm arms enveloped me. "Had a bad dream?"

I drew several shaky breaths before I tentatively leaned back against his chest. The fire was low and glowed a sullen blue-black, reflecting the despair inside me. I shook my head. "Worse than that," I whispered.

He pulled me closer to him, and I buried my face in his shirt and sobbed. "Shhh, don't talk about it now," he soothed me, and rocked me back and forth.

The tears kept coming, but after a minute or so, they abated somewhat, and I pulled my face free again.

"I know...I cannot even begin to imagine what you experience every day," he said simply.

I looked down at my hands and said nothing. Then I looked up. "I soaked your shirt," I said evasively, with a bitter smile.

"Your wellbeing is more important than my shirt," he said with a frown of confusion. Then he realized what I meant. Tactfully, he changed the subject. "So...I wanted to ask you. What did Janus say to you? I didn't hear him, but I know he said something, because your face went really shocked."

What a wonderful change of subject. It only pained me more to think of those choices, for they were even more painful, perhaps, than Kronos' threat. But I looked away for the briefest moment to dash the tear from my eye and swallowed hard before facing him again, my jaw set to let out the truth.

"It was all very simple," I said, choking a bit. I swallowed again. "Janus said that by the end of my quest, someone would have to die. And I would have to choose whether it would be you or me."

* * *

**A/N: *bifurcation: the state of having only two choices**

**""Let her go, stinker," said Aithne." I just realized Sam Gamgee the hobbit said "Let him go, Stinker" to Strider in the movie of _The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring_ in that first scene where Strider and Frodo meet. ;D If you know what I mean, you'll see the joke.**

**Okay, little cliffie there, no? It's just a little one. But the policeman turned out to be Janus! Hahaha! *evil grin***

**So, I REALLY fleshed out Aithne. Avalonfreak, be honored: she's my absolute favorite borrowed character.**

**REVIEWS, please! Oh, and I'll try to put up Chapter 12 tonight too, _if I can_! Thanks!**


	12. Chapter 12: Lost in Lipstick

**A/N: Okay, so it's 5:41 a.m. on Thursday. No kidding. But I had to finish this chapter and post it, honest. I dawdled for four hours reading fanfics, before I realized what I was staying up for. So I wrote this chappie in about, say, 40 minutes. I know, I know. You're saying, "Go to sleep, girl!!!" But, tempting as it is, I promised I would update tonight (or, rather, this morning), and I don't like to break promises.**

**So, with yawns and long belated good-nights, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 12: Lost in Lipstick

We rose as early as we could manage to avoid anyone hiking through the woods chancing upon our motley crew and asking us all sorts of pesky questions. I felt far from rested, but I never said a word about it, not even to Zac.

Zac and I weren't talking. It wasn't that we were angry at each other, but the night before, I had seen the shock spread across his face as I told him about Janus' prediction.

_"It was all very simple," I said, choking a bit. I swallowed again. "Janus said that by the end of my quest, someone would have to die. And I would have to choose whether it would be you or me."_

Now, as I slowly rolled up my sweatshirt and stuffed it into my purple backpack, I gladly hid my face behind my messy curtain of red hair and glanced furtively across the bonfire ashes at Zac. I didn't want him to see my tear-stained face, but I knew that sooner or later--more likely sooner--he would catch sight of me crying to myself again.

I'd never felt so bad before in my whole life. I never cried to myself before, but now I was. I felt so weak, so crushed beneath Kronos' thumb. But what I hated most was seeing Zac the way he was now--silent, brooding, with a darkened brow and with no spark of life behind those once sparkling golden eyes. I'd never seen him before like this. I knew he felt bad for me.

There was no anger or tension between us, just silent sorrow and meditation.

After trekking through brambles and incorrigible trees, we at last came upon the sprawling highway void of any life. No cars, no trucks, no birds flying about. Nothing.

"Where...exactly...are we?" Aithne demanded, her voice at least three octaves too high.

I sighed and rubbed my throbbing head. "I don't know. I have no clue."

"I'm no good at directions during the day, but I've got my bearings about me at nighttime," Imani proffered, "so if we really are lost, I could direct you tonight."

I nodded with an appreciative smile.

"Well, I think I _might_ have an idea," said Annabeth encouragingly. "Say, why don't we settle down for some lunch first? Then I can explain to you where I think we are, and see if we're right. I brought a map, at any rate."

"Sounds good to me," I said with a weary nod.

"Food always sounds good," said Zac. I looked up at him--there was no humor in his voice anymore.

"Good old Wise Girl," said Percy adoringly. "You brought a map."

Annabeth nudged him with a knowing smile. "Of course. Naturally, I assumed you'd forget, Seaweed Brain."

"As you always do," Aithne muttered, falling into a half-slip, half-squat onto the dry grass.

"Aithne, did I hear you say something?" said Percy with a sort of half-innocent tone.

Uh-oh. Not again.

Aithne half-laughed, half-scowled as she dumped out nearly the last of our turkey deli and dried herbs to go with our bread. (Aleici, being a healer with some taste, had resourcefully included the delicious herbs in our menu ever since she found some in the forest.) "Of course you did, Kelp Head," Aithne returned in a voice with, surprisingly, a slight tone of boredom. "Or do your ears have kelp in them, too?"

"If only you hadn't saved us from Mr. Flame-Breather yesterday, I would say I resent that," said Percy, visibly trying to control a growing temper.

Annabeth laid a hand on his arm. He hardly took notice.

"Well, the fact is, I did," Aithne declared coolly. "That mean something to you? Now shut it."

I never knew Percy's lips turned white when he was mad. Well, now they were. And now I knew. Imani glanced across at me and gave me a look of pure terror.

"Listen, my dad is one of the Big Three," said Percy. "That mean something to _you_?" His usually deep voice was climbing up an octave, I swear.

"Of course it does," retorted Aithne, her voice somehow void of some sarcasm but her words totalling embodying it. "Why, you're the prince of the seaweed and the barnacles."

Percy was beginning to stand up. That was definitely _not_ a good sign. "That's not the point."

"Funny," remarked Aithne, emotionlessly gulping down some food and waving her bitten sandwich in his direction. "For some reason, I was under the impression that you brought up the subject."

"You insulted me!"

"I did? Well, sorry."

"You don't mean that."

"Now, what makes you say that, Surfer Boy?"

"You know what, maybe we don't need you anymore, Fire Girl."

"Fine." Aithne shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly with a coolness I had never witnessed in her before. But then the edge returned to her voice in her next sentence. "Go on without me and freeze to death, for all I care."

"_That_ was uncalled for."

Aithne was on her feet now, too. "Oh, really? I har--"

I sprang to my feet. "You two, _quit strangling each other_!"

All went absurdly silent. An awakened cricket chirped tentatively.

I sighed as my ears finally rested to the melodious sound of silence. I ran a hand through my hair--a habit, I realized, that was evident when I was nervouse or tired. "Listen, you two," I said in a weary tone. "You can't go around fighting and yelling like this. You'll attract monsters' attention. Besides, what's the point? We need to stick together. Aithne, you'll have to get used to Percy's simpleness. And Percy, you're going to have to control your temper and try not to get on Aithne's nerves, either."

Aithne rolled her eyes and glared at Percy, strangely laughing at the same time, if that was even possible. "I _did_ apologize, Kelp Head."

"I thought you weren't sincere," Percy said sullenly.

"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth began with a warning edge to her voice. "Just be quiet and eat."

Hastily he complied.

I sighed. "Thanks, Annabeth. Now, you were saying?"

"Oh! Yes! The map. Well, if you look closely around this enlarged area" --she circled the intersection on the grid-- "it would appear that we're right here. The landmarks fit. Now, if we follow this highway to the end, or at least to a busier area, we'll end up somewhere in the middle of Kansas."

"In the middle of nowhere," Zac joked humorlessly.

"Well, looking on the bright side, there are a lot of useful plants to be found there," Aleici attempted with a tentative smile.

I deeply appreciated their efforts at humor, but right now, I was feeling far from humorous. "It seems like we really need some help, then."

"We could travel at night by the ravens," Imani suggested.

I turned to her and laid a hand softly on her arm. "Thank you, Imani. But...I would not risk your health. I know that last time, it took quite some effort on your part to call up the ravens and direct them."

She fell silent. It was true.

Suddenly my head snapped up. "I got it!"

Aithne whipped around at my sudden outburst. "What?"

"Well, I'm the daughter of Hecate, aren't I?" I said.

They stared somewhat..._blankly_ at me.

"I've been forgetting my powers," I said. "Stupid me. Do you think levitation is really a mystery, or the workings of my mother?"

"Oh, I get it," said Annabeth, quickly growing excited.

Zac caught on. "Like an invisible magic carpet."

And for the first time ever that day, he looked at me and gave me a small smile.

I grinned back, my high spirits quickly returning. "Exactly."

"Genius!" exclaimed Aleici.

"Well?" demanded Aithne, the first to spring up. "What are we waiting for?"

"So how do we do it?" questioned Imani.

"Uh..." I hesitated. I broke into a breathy laugh. "I honestly don't know. Lemme think for a second." Before I had even uttered the word _second_, I felt the hilt of my sword grow warm and glowing against my skin. I looked down--it was pulsing again with waves of colored light. This was how Mother seemed to prefer to communicate with me.

"Right-o!" I exclaimed. "Everyone, hold hands."

As it happened, this turned out quite a bit more awkward than I had expected. Annabeth and Percy were holding hands very naturally, but Aithne had been seated right next to Percy, so reluctantly, they linked hands.

Percy gasped and sprang back, doing a little hopping dance and shaking his hand in the air. "Ow! That hurt! Stop that!"

Aithne looked bewildered, for once her face innocent of mischief or retorts. "What? Stop what?"

"Your--your hand! You burned me!"

Aithne sighed and rolled her eyes at me. She hooked a thumb over her shoulder at the distraught black-haired boy behind her. "You say he's supposed to be a hero?" She raised her eyebrows, apparently unimpressed. "Boy, I thought he could handle more pain than that."

I had to bite down on my lip hard before I could properly stifle my giggles and answer her in a steady voice. "Aithne...get used to it."

She rolled her eyes again. "Okay, you can quit the little powow," she called over her shoulder. "I'm switching with Imani."

Percy gratefully accepted the offer.

I was the last one left to take a hand. I took Aleici's in my left; then I reached out to my right to find it was Zac's. Involuntarily I looked up at him, and he gave me a smile that, for some inexplicable, bizarre reason, lit up my face and made my heart leap.

And, of course, we all leaped into the sky, too.

I~I~I~I~I

"LOOK OUT!!!"

"Aaargh!"

_Thud._

Gods, I didn't realize how loud Annabeth could be. And Aleici's strangled scream certainly made her sound like she needed some serious healing herself.

"Ow! You're sitting on my hand! Get your stupid butt off my hand!!!"

"Stupid? You calling me _stupid_?"

"No, idiot, I'm calling your butt stupid."

"Did I just hear the word 'idiot' in there?"

"Obviously you did, Kelp Head. Stop asking questions and you'll stop sounding moronic."

I squeezed my eyes shut and grimaced in an extended version of a wince. Not. _Again_.

"You sound like a daughter of Athena."

"Percy!" Annabeth reprimanded him. "Do I look like a daughter of Coalemus? Obviously not. I am obviously a daughter of Athena, and I do _not_ appreciate your stereotyping Athena kids." The sky rumbled faintly as if to attest to her words.

Percy blinked. "Who's Coalemus?"

Annabeth sighed. "God of stupidity."

Percy blinked again. "Oh." Then his eyes widened in realization. "Oh! Sorry."

I quickly scrambled to my feet, gingerly dusting myself off. "Okay, okay, guys, cut it out. I think we _did_ land in the middle of Kansas."

"It sure looks like it," remarked Zac, gesturing at the vast wheat field we had just crashed into. I noted that tiny note of happiness returning to his voice and let my lips curve suddenly into a small smile.

"Um, actually, I think we're near the capital, Topeka," Annabeth informed us.

"Well, that's technically still the middle of Kansas, isn't it?" I inquired innocently.

We all burst out laughing.

I~I~I~I~I

"Okie-doke, guys, let's face it. We're lost."

I lifted my eyebrows sky-high with a heartfelt sigh at Aithne's bizarrely frank words.

"So, well, any apparent solution at hand?" Imani prompted us.

"We get directions," said Annabeth. "Come on, just a few more yards and we're actually _in_ Topeka."

When we did end up in the city, it was strangely busy...and quiet at the same time. Annabeth noted my strange look. "Much better than NYC, huh?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. I'm just not used to the...uh...lack of noise. You know. You probably have the same thing over in California."

She laughed and nodded.

"So, who's asking for directions?" I said, switching topics.

Everyone stopped. And stared at me.

"Why...do...I...get the feeling this is a replay of my visit to the Oracle?" I laughed nervously.

Zac chuckled. How wonderful to hear him laugh again! "Come on, Winnie, you've done such _enormously_ more dangerous things before than asking for directions."

I breathed a sigh. "Try asking for direction while looking like an escaped psychopath that just landed in a corn field. Or wheat field. Whatever."

"I think you're right," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

I cocked a brow. "What?"

"You do look like an escaped psychopath that just landed in a corn field, or wheat field, or whatever."

"Oh, you!"

Five minutes later, we found ourselves standing just inside the doorway of a very droopy, forlorn-looking, half-abandoned sports grill called Kat-Man-Du. The floorboards creaked querulously beneath my feet, as if echoing my anxiety. I caught a faint reflection of myself in one of the windows: I looked absolutely terrible.

"Uh, I think there's somebody over there," Zac suggested brightly.

My eyes widened. "Gods, nobody ever told me there was a...a bar in here."

We all looked at each other. "Well," sighed Annabeth, "it would seem awfully rude if seven hungry-looking kids suddenly whipped around and walked out on Kat-Man-Du, don't you think? Besides, someone's already watching us."

I heaved another of my signature deep sighs. I made a hasty attempt at straightening myself. Then, clearing my throat, I walked stiffly up the ramp.

The girl at the counter was grossly over-made-up, to my standards. She had long, layered chest-length white-blonde hair that was impossibly straight, and I suspected that it had been dyed, considering the tell-tale roots of brunette in the back of her scalp. Her eyes were the typical perfect-girl blue, large and outlined with dark blue mascara and heavily loaded with shimmering silver-ice eyeshadow (which, I had to admit, was rather eye-catching). She had a sports jersey over her long-sleeved t-shirt, but she wore a pleated skirt with it, instead of the bell bottom jeans I had subconsciously expected.

"Yes...um...hi...I'm looking for directions," I stammered. "Um, no, yes, I mean, I _need_ directions, please. Where's the nearest highway to...um..." I stopped abruptly when she gave me a strange look over the top of her _Seventeen_ magazine. "Yes!" I stuttered incoherently again. "To California?"

"Why, isn't that an awful long way to go for all seven of you?" she replied, her voice enragingly five octaves above the normal pitch and bearing a strangely demonic lilt. "And don't you have a guardian?"

I suddenly bristled, letting my temper get the best of me. "I'm the guardian, if that's so important to know," I growled. "Now out with the directions."

She gave me a disgustingly luring look and then burst out laughing. It started out very high and girlish, then suddenly--to my inexplicable horror--turned deep and dark. Her voice suddenly seemed amplified. "Going somewhere important in such a hurry, Wynter Popplewell?"

I flinched. How on earth did she know--

Those eyes.

Those legs.

Styx.

"Winnie, look out!" Zac yelled, already whipping out his bow and arrows.

"It's an empousa!" Imani exclaimed. Suddenly she grabbed her dagger out of nowhere, flexed her arm, and flung it as hard and far as she could.

Soon our cheerleading bartender was nothing but a pile of fire, ashes, and a cosmetic case of Lancôme lipsticks and lotions.

"Let's get out of here!"

"Good idea, Percy," I said through my teeth. Just as I was turning to leave, I found myself flying above the ground in Zac's strong arms as he raced down the ramp as the flames raged on and devoured the fast self-destructing remains of Kat-Man-Du.

"Look out!!!"

Aithne's scream came too late. The flat of a sword came flying down upon us, hitting me square on the pate. I groaned and slid to the floor with a loud thud, right at the high-heeled black boots of--

"Why, hello there, my love! Been having sweet dreams lately?" She laughed. "Now, what's our favorite covergirl doing now, running off on a quest and angering her master?" She quickly followed this up with a swift kick to my gut. She was far from gentle.

I doubled over, gasping in pain. Then I raised my head, glaring daggers in her face. "Demi."

* * *

**A/N: *cackles like an escaped psychopath that just landed in a corn field, wheat field, or whatever* CLIFFIE TIME!**

**Okay, so how'd you like it, Avalonfreak? I know I made Aithne sound a *teeny* bit too cross at times, but come on. This is the best time that my brain gets rolling...and roll it did.**

**Uh, yeah, my other readers probably don't know the story behind Kat-Man-Du. The truth is...it happened to me just last week. DON'T RUN AWAY! You see, my dad and I had just dropped off my sis back in her college dormitory from Thanksgiving break, and it was really late, and naturally, I fell asleep. When I woke up, my dad told me, "I think we missed the exit for New York," with that really, really big "Oops" in his voice. Pretty soon we ended up smack dab in the middle of Trenton. So, waking up fully, I yelled to him to exit now, and exit _fast_, before we got on the lane headed to the airport. So we exited, and we parked by this nice, shabby, near-abandoned sports-grill-that-turned-out-to-have-a-bar called Kat-Man-Du. The girl at the counter looked exactly as the empousa described above (so unfortunately extinguished too fast), except she was kind of nicer and DID provide the right directions. So I navigated my very lost dad out of Trenton and back on the road to New York. XD Pretty strange, huh? I was actually dressed up that night, so the girl _did_ give us some strange looks, anyway. It was Avalonfreak's idea for me to put this scene in the story...though it turned out much more scary than funny. Sorry. Staying up to this hour in the morning doesn't exactly _improve_ my mood.**

**Anyway! Reviews will be received, ripped open, squealed fangirlishly over, and adoringly tucked under my pillow of preciouses! THANKS!**

**~TOIMI**


	13. Chapter 13: Tartarus in a Box

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay and the pitifully short update. Thanks to all the people who faved or alerted this story!**

* * *

Chapter 13: Tartarus in a Box

"Yes, of course, dear," said Demi, "who else did you think?"

I clutched my stomach and gritted my teeth against the pain of the blow. "Tell your _master_ Mr. Lord-of-Time-and-Supreme-Know-It-All that I'm not coming," I flung at her.

She looked appalled. "But, my dear! We're having such a _wonderful_ time! Don't you think a little ball at the end of the world would be perfectly _sumptuous_?"

Zac had shaken himself awake and now sprang in front of me. "You're not taking her anywhere," he shouted.

"That does it, my dears." Demi snapped her fingers, and in an instant an entire army of dracaenae was pouring in through the doors and slithering around the ruins of Kat-Man-Du, hissing at us and surrounding us with their snake's bodies. Aithne was scowling fiercely, Annabeth cocked her head to the side as if assessing the situation intellectually and forming a plan, Aleici was fumbling about for her fallen weapons, and Imani looked slightly paralyzed. Percy had just uncapped his sword Riptide and was standing beside Annabeth with a wary look.

Before I realized what was happening, I felt a dull pain thud across the back of my head, and I fell forward with a grunt of "Uhnn." Then sharp scales surrounded me and gripped me, closing round tighter and tighter till I felt I couldn't breathe.

Then I passed out.

I~I~I~I~I

When I woke up with a jerk, I found my situation hadn't improved much.

I was seated upright in a hard wooden chair with my wrists bound behind the back of it and my ankles cinched to each front leg. A precautionary rope arond my chest and looping around the back of the chair prevented me from wriggling free, and a rotten-tasting rag had been stuffed into my mouth and duct-taped in place. I found I was in a completely pitch black room with only a bit of spotlight shining down on me from a ceiling. Great, a shrink session with the victim all neatly beaten up and restrained. To top it all off, I was exhausted, hungry, snappy, and my head throbbed like Hades.

_Wynter._

I jumped (if that was even possible) at his sudden voice.

_You lied to me, Wynter._

I glared angrily at the blackness around me. _No, I didn't,_ I flung back. _I gave you the information you wanted. That was all you asked for._

_I asked for your loyalty, Wynter!_ he thundered.

I winced, wondering if the mere sound of Kronos' voice could blast me to pieces.

_I am not giving you another chance to prove your loyalty to me and then betray me when I am not looking,_ Kronos continued, his voice toned down but bearing a dangerous edge to it. _You will not escape and find Jasper on your own. Only on my terms will you see him, and only on my terms will you be free._

My eyes were slowly widening in the realization of my perilous situation. _What? You can't control me!_

He laughed darkly. _You are always wrong, Wynter. Sometimes it is so amusing to watch you, you tiny thing, as you bravely stand up to me and discover at the last minute that you are crushed. I may be disembodied, but the mettle of my spirit endures. Jasper's body was not strong enough to hold me...but now I find yours is._

I was near tears in my frustration and panic. _What are you going to do to me?!_

His laugh grew raucous. _Oh, don't worry, Wynter, you won't be going anywhere. You are going to stay right here where you are. I have ensured that all possible means of escape are shut._

I tried to twist round and search desperately for a door, a shaft of light, anything to spark my hope.

_As you can see,_ Kronos said with mild amusement at my desperation, _there are no doors or windows. The walls are perfectly smooth; and the light shining on you will enable you to see your situation and remind you of your place._

I flinched. I scanned the darkness and found it was true. I strained at my bonds, but to no avail.

_Oh, I forgot to mention,_ said Kronos, _don't try to move the chair, Wynter. As you'll very soon see, it is screwed down in place. You'll only sprain your ankle._

Then his laughter faded, and I was left all alone.

Eagerly, still hoping, I grasped at the faint thought that perhaps he'd been lying, and there was a way to escape. I moved my wrists behind my back, hoping to free one of them, but they were well and truly clamped together. And the more I moved, the more the rope around my chest cut into my unprotected arms and burned them. There was absolutely no way I could call out with this disgusting rag in my mouth. It was then that I realized something else, something even far more urgent and alarming: I had no food or water.

I sighed and leaned back, letting the beads of sweat slowly drip down my brow and into my eyes. Here I was, bound and gagged, left to starve, my hope withering in a box-like version of Tartarus.

* * *

**A/N: 874 words. Tragic, isn't it? Don't worry, the shortness is for impact. I promise the next one will be super long like all the previous chappies!**

**Please review! *dangles cupcakes***

**~TOIMI**


	14. Chapter 14: Blackmail of the Drooler

**A/N: I am just SOOO sorry about the lack of updates. I've been busy preparing for my Christmas concert, which was just a few days ago, and now I'm practicing hard for my upcoming concert on New Year's Eve. Plus, I've been enjoying some knitting time with my sister, who just came home for vacation and will be staying for the WHOLE MONTH! Plus, I got completely obsessed (read: OBSESSED) with Maximum Ride, and I finished every single book of the series that's out. Can't wait for the sixth one to be published.**

**Now, with that aside, please READ AND ENJOY!**

Chapter 14: Blackmail of the Drooler

_Think, Wynter_, I said fiercely to myself. _There is no way you are going to give in now to Mr. Sadist._

I scrunched up my eyebrows and peered up at the light above me. The shafts of yellow emanated from a twentieth-century lamp suspended from what seemed to be a mouldy ceiling, with the shade made of steel (or as much as I could tell). The bright light burned my eyes, and I averted my gaze for a moment to regain my thoughts.

If only I could get out of this stupid chair.

Suddenly my head began to throb. I thought I could hear voices, but I glanced around, and I saw nothing, nothing at all. It had all been in my head. Or had it?

"Wynter."

I jumped up, if that was even possible, and whipped my head about, searching frantically for the voice. _Mother?_

"Wynter, remember who you are. You are the daughter of blue fire." Then her voice--and the other voices--began to fade away.

I shrieked at Hecate in my mind. _Mother! Don't go! Help me!_

"You are the daughter of blue fire."

Then all sound was gone, and I was left alone in the despair of silence.

Blue fire. Daughter of blue fire. What in Rhea's realm did that mean? I'd hardly been trained in magic, and though I was powerful--even Kronos himself said so--I didn't know how exactly to leash that power and use it. And Kronos trusted me to a certain extent, because he knew I was helpless to use my power. Yes, I could foretell the future, I could dance like a feather, I could be a contortionist, but...

Then it clicked.

Could it be that I _was_ the essence of magic? A crazy idea popped into my head, and it just wouldn't go away. Well, I thought with an internal shrug, there was no harm in trying. I decided on something to concentrate on: my hands.

I rubbed my wrists around, but to no avail. The rope was stuck fast. If I could just _persuade_ it to untie. Gently, I willed it with my mind to loosen. At first nothing happened, so I willed it with all my might. A blast of fire suddenly erupted from the rope, and with a grunt, I jerked my hands away. The rope fell to the stone floor, and the flicker of blue fire extinguished itself. But I was free.

I had hardly enough time to relish in my newfound freedom. After briefly chafing my sore wrists back to life, I set about slipping out from under the rope around my chest and undoing the ropes around my ankles. The knots were tough--no doubt tied by that lynx Demi--but my fingers were long and deft, and with only some extra effort, I was soon moving my feet too. I reached up and ripped away the duct tape and the disgusting gag from my mouth. Enough of _that_.

I looked up again at the light. Somehow, I just knew in my gut there had to be a way out of this. After all, how had I gotten _in_ in the first place? Kronos thought I was a dummy, but I wasn't yet. I set my jaw in grim determination.

I wiggled the chair; true enough, it was made of steel and nailed down to the floor. It would hold. I scrambled up onto it, my legs feeling like putty, and reached up for the light. I was short for fourteen, and wiry at that, too, and my arm wasn't long enough. It missed the lamp by a fraction of an inch. Biting my lip, I leaped up and grabbed it, and held on with all my might. And as I was swinging back and forth over the menacing stone floor eleven feet below me, clutching the steel shade for dear life, I saw it all. It had all had been a trick.

There _was_ no ceiling.

Yes, the lamp was suspended by something, but by the length of my arc as I swung to and fro, I could tell it hung from something almost fifty feet higher up. But the four walls of my box-like prison ended in midair, with no ceiling to connect them.

Realization flashed through my brain. Kronos had been playing with my mind. He probably knew there was as slight chance I would figure out how to get free from my bonds, but he was counting on my despair not to escape anymore, since he'd told me straight out that there was no exit.

If only I could swing over to the opposite wall...

I leaned all my slight weight against the lamp and surged forward. I swung over to the opposite wall and reached out, but my hand only brushed it before I was yanked rudely back in the lamp's crazy arc. But that was not what made me gasp.

My hand had actually passed _through_ the wall.

Without a second thought, I surged forward again on the lamp and leaned forward in the air, every muscle of my body tensing and quivering. At the last millisecond possible, I put my arms out, loosened my grip with my knees, and flew forward.

I scrunched my eyes closed, almost expecting my head to bash to pieces against a cement wall. But no. I felt a cool breeze, and soft gel-like substance against my face, and then the stinging cold of the wind in my hair. And I never landed again.

I looked down with a gasp of surprise. I was flying!

I didn't dare look down again, for fear I would lose heart and lose my altitude with it. I saw entire forests and cities rush past below me, the streaks of light and the whistling of rustling leaves, the wind piercing my skin, the clouds brushing against my arms like whispering cotton.

I don't know how I knew where I was going. All of a sudden I knew that I had to land, so automatically I angled my body downward and shot toward the ground. At the last moment, I remembered that my bones weren't fracture-proof, and I willed myself to slow down. I put out my feet, and I hit the mossy ground hard, forcing me to run forward a bit before actually toppling over on my nose.

I coughed and spit out bitter, wet grass from my mouth and struggled to my hands and knees, suddenly aware of the lassitude setting on my muscles and nerves--not to mention how muddy I was. I groaned and managed to creak myself upright, and I glanced about, wondering why my senses would lead me to land in the middle of an abandoned clearing in a drenched forest somewhere in the middle of Colorado (or so I guessed randomly). Then I thought I heard voices.

I shook my head and cocked my head to one side. Was I just imagining it? It seemed I was prone to hearing voices in my head. Whether that was good or bad, was a question that would have to be answered later. But for now...

Yes! I was almost in tears from joy. Was that Zac's voice I heard? Aithne? Annabeth? Percy? Imani? Aleici?

I stumbled to my feet, almost tripping and falling again on the way before I caught myself, and ran blindly through the branches and leaves whipping at my voice, on and on toward the voices. Then I was out into the air again, a blast of heat struck me, and the voices became really real.

"Winnie?"

I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath. His voice was just full of shock, anger, confusion, relief, and abounding joy. As my knees buckled and I sank to the ground, his strong arms enveloped me. Then I was out, out, out.

I~I~I~I~I

I awoke again to the sound of voices, voices that filled me with such immense, indescribable relief. Remembering where I was, I sat up with a jerk, then fell back with a grunt when my muscles screamed in pain.

"Winnie? Are you awake?" Footsteps approached me, and I opened my eyes to see the concern in Zac's face. "Are you okay?"

I managed a weak smile and a small nod. "I'm fine. Just help me up...I'm starving."

He took my hand and gently set me up on my feet; then he placed an arm round the small of my back and walked me slowly toward the glowing embers of the fire in the clearing. I glanced about and realized it was early morning, which was why the birds were singing peacefully, the sun was high in the sky, and the five others were just rolling up their sleeping bags. Aithne immediately sprang up with that bouncy nature of hers--which beat even my hyperness--and volunteered to toast something over the fire. I nodded with a weary smile of gratitude.

Zac placed two hands on my shoulders and pressed me down into a sitting position on a dryer patch of moss. "Just sit back, eat, and tell us everything when you're ready," was his medical order to me.

Aleici scooted over to me. "Are you all right?"

I nodded, but I suppose the dark circles under my eyes didn't do much to support my testimony. Pressing her lips together, Aleici laid a cool hand against my forehead and concentrated. The same tingling as before coursed through me, and in a moment, I felt good as new. I flashed her a real smile. "Thanks."

She nodded and scooted away again to have some homemade popcorn.

I pulled myself closer and warmed my hands over the fire. "Okay, guys," I said loud enough for everyone else to hear. They paused in their breakfast and turned to me. "First, I want to know what happened after the battle with Demi," I said.

"Well, the dracaenae surrounded us," Annabeth explained. "We all pretty much lost each other in the heat of the battle, including you. We just barely managed to kill off all those disgusting monsters, but Demi, as usual, was gone. Percy and I found each other first--"

"Groaning and going around hunched over from pain like old women," Percy interrupted, his mouth full of popcorn.

Annabeth shot him a look. "I was talking."

"Oh," said Percy, gulping his popcorn guiltily. "Sorry, princess."

Annabeth opened her mouth, then broke into a grin and threw up her hands. "Anyway, as I was saying," she resumed, turning back to me, "Percy and I found each other first in front of the, er, remains of Kat-Man-Du. Then Imani popped up in that bat-ish way of hers" --here Imani broke into a tiny smile-- "and Aleici materialized out of thin air. And--"

"I crawled out from beneath a beam groaning like I'd broken every bone in my body," Zac cut in. He shot the rolling-eyed Annabeth an apologetic grin. "Sorry. Pray continue." He made her a mock bow.

"Why is _everyone_ interrupting me?" Annabeth exploded. She ran a hand through her light gold waves and sighed. "...And Aithne here flashed into existence in a ball of fire," she finished.

Aithne cocked a brow, stood up, and bowed to us with a flourish of a hand, which of course earned her a couple of rounds of applause and some deep-hearted laughter.

After we had calmed down a bit, Zac gestured to me with a magician's flourish of an imaginary wand. "Now it's your turn, Winnie."

My smile faded. I rubbed my forehead unconsciously and said nothing for an unbearably long moment; then, at last, I sighed with resignation. "I woke up gagged and bound to a chair," I began, to the gasps and raised eyebrows and open mouths (well, only Percy's) of the others. "I was in a very dark, empty room. To make the long story short, Kronos--er, Kronos' voice--confronted me about my, well, infidelity. And he had me convinced there was no way out. But then my mother spoke to me..." I paused, rubbing my head again where it was strangely sore. "...She kept telling me that I was the daughter of blue fire. I was frustrated, but then I figured it all out. I could actually _be_ magic. I burned my ropes with fire."

Aithne grinned and gave me a thumbs-up. I smiled back. "A little trick I remembered from Aithne," I explained, slanting her a sly glance. She'd burned her ropes that time we first met. "Anyway," I continued, "there was a lamp above me, so I got up on it to see what was around me. Turned out Kronos had been lying. He had me thinking I was in a box, but in reality there was no ceiling."

Gasps.

"And something even freakier," I said. "I could just walk _through_ the wall."

More gasps.

I sighed. "Yeah. He likes to play with minds." I shook my head and dropped it into my hands.

Annabeth cocked her head to one side. "Then...how did you get here? It sounds like you were in, um, _Tartarus_. We're in Colorado."

"I flew," I said simply.

Now jaws dropped.

I waved a hand impatiently at my quest mates. "_That's_ why I was so tired. But, Annabeth, what do you mean I was in _Tartarus_?" The more I thought of it, the more I could feel myself beginning to hyperventilate.

"Meaning, very near it," Annabeth clarified. "And that's how you felt Kronos had even more power over you."

I thought about it. "Yeah. Yeah, you're exactly right. He didn't bother me too much when were back at camp. But every day, it seems his voice is getting stronger. And that must be because we're getting closer to Hades, or rather Tartarus, which is in L.A."

Annabeth nodded solemnly.

"Phoebus' folly," I swore (making Zac wince), "things are taking a turn for the worse."

"But we shouldn't think of that," Aleici said sensibly. She and Aithne got to their feet, soon followed by the others.

"We should move on," said Imani quietly. I nodded to her and got up myself, stretching a bit. I cast about for my backpack, but then realized that we had all lost our emergency supplies in the battle of Kat-Man-Du. Man, was I going to get Demi.

But for now...

"I'll call the ravens!" Imani volunteered.

I groaned.

If Thalia thought she was airsick...oh, she paled in comparison to me.

I~I~I~I~I

Seven groans, thuds, sore bottoms, and hours later, we plowed through the mud on our faces with groans of varying levels of relief, disgust, and sheer weariness. I'd simply refused to accept a ride from Imani's ravens, so instead--despite Zac's and Aleici's most sensible protests about the condition of my health--I had formed a ring with my quest mates and flown them over to now what appeared to be a barren patch of land somewhere smack dab in the middle of California.

I got up with a huff, busily brushing myself off, though mud is certainly a substance that just can't be brushed off. Don't get me wrong; I knew that. I was just aching for something to busy my hands with. "Well!" I exclaimed, springing to my feet with a leaderly clap of my hands. "It's already nearly midnight. What do you say we pitch camp for tonight?"

No one raised any argument.

Fifteen sore minutes later, everybody had grabbed a bite--literally--and fallen fast asleep. Well, except maybe Percy.

"Hey!" I said sharply. "What are you doing?"

He glanced up quickly from where he'd been rustling suspiciously in our remaining backpack of supplies (it turned out it was Aithne's, who had been sensible enough among us to at least _hold on_ to her backpack during the battle of Kat-Man-Du). "Oh, uh, just looking for a toothbrush," he stammered, and gave me an innocent grin.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Percy, if we _do_ have any toothbrush at all, it would obviously be Aithne's. _Not yours_."

He looked crestfallen. "Oh. Right." He slunk away again. I thought I saw him carrying something with him, but I wasn't so sure. I kept my sharp eyes open until he hd fully crawled back into his tent without murmuring another word of protest.

_Wynter._

I whipped upright, my mouth hanging open in a silent scream. His voice was just so big, so terrible, so commanding, more than I had ever heard it before. Icy fingers of dread shivered up my spine. Would I never be free of his voice?

_Wynter._

I sobbed aloud and ripped away the sleeping blanket. I tore ahead blindly through the sparse trees, letting their bare branches whip at my skin with a cruel pain. I didn't care what I was thinking, what I was doing, where I was going. I had to get rid of Kronos _now_.

I burst out of the sprinkling of trees and stumbled flat on my face over a rock. I struggled upright and looked up through the grime streaking my face: I had somehow reached a cliff.

I inched forward along the ground, the sharp stones lacerating my arms, and peeped over the edge. I quickly looked away again: it dropped down hundreds of feet toward the ocean.

_Wynter._

That did it. I could not bear Kronos' voice any longer.

My mind flashed back to my friends--Percy, Annabeth, Aleici, Aithne, Imani. And I thought of Zac. Zac's golden eyes, his sandy hair, his bright white teeth when he laughed. I thought of my mother's face, stricken with grief, her flaming hair alight, her violet eyes pulsing with the most powerful kind of fear that only a goddess could withstand. I thought of Annabeth's wisecracks, Percy's amusing simpleness but staunchness, Aleici's sensibility and focus, Imani's quiet and calming advice, Aithne's impish grin and devilish antics. Would I miss them so terribly? I certainly hoped I could reach Elysium and have the patience to wait for them to come, all in due time.

It took all the self-control in me to keep from screaming and running away. I had never wanted to go on this quest, after all. Why was I going to save my evil half-brother Jasper, just to appease my mother and free myself of Kronos' hold? I completely forgot how Jasper had been possessed, not born evil. I completely forgot how much I loved my mother Hecate. I completely forgot how much Zac loved _me_.

Why couldn't I just get rid of Kronos right now?

I got up, my jaw set grimly till it nearly hurt. I began to take slow, purposeful strides toward the edge. I paused for ever the slightest moment when I reached the cliff; then I squeezed my eyes shut, held out my arms, and stepped into nothingness.

"_Winnie!_"

I~I~I~I~I

I was aware of someone groaning, and something hot and sticky like blood pouring down the front of my shirt. Then my nerves came fully awake, and I felt the sharp, rocky terrain beneath my back.

I could hardly focus. Had I leaped from the cliff and still survived the hundred-foot fall? It seemed impossible. I tried to move, but found that every muscle in my body was screaming in pain.

A cool hand was pressed against my forehead. I gasped, opened my eyes, and sucked in deep breaths of air.

Was a messenger of death coming for me? Was this how it felt like to die? Why was everything so bright and misty around me?

"Winnie?" came an anxious voice. "Are you okay?"

I blinked and shook my head to clear my vision. Somebody was bending over me, with sandy hair hanging down. I was seeing double. I choked and coughed up a bit of sand and spit it out on the ground beside me. I struggled to get up on my hands and knees, but my back literally felt like it was going to fall apart. "Wha--?"

His arms snaked around my chest, and in the next moment I was heaved off the ground. I closed my eyes again and felt myself being half-carried, half-dragged up along rocky ground and toward the warm glow of a campfire. Then I was gently laid down on top of a clean, cushioned sleeping bag. I opened my eyes again. "Zac?" I asked uncertainly.

"Shush," he said shortly, but not unkindly. Without ceremony, he lifted my shirt and began to sponge away the blood glistening on my skin. I was too weary to be embarrassed.

"Um...Zac?" I couldn't help asking again.

He nodded. "Yeah?"

"What...exactly...happened?"

He didn't answer for a moment, but instead continued to sponge my strange wounds. He dumped out a bottle of antiseptic on it, making it sting, but I gritted my teeth and dutifully held still while he bandaged my chest. Then he rummaged around and produced a chunk of ambrosia for me to eat.

I struggled to a sitting position. I shook my head again to clear my thoughts, but I was still dizzy and even seeing triple. It was hard for me to focus. "Zac," I repeated, my breath tight and drawn, "what happened?"

"I thought you would know," he said.

I was taken aback. He never spoke to me like that.

"You expect me to be happy when you almost killed yourself?" he demanded, as if reading my mind.

I sighed and looked down, dropping my head into my hands.

"All right," he at last relented. "What did you mean by running off with my dagger and stabbing yourself in the chest?"

My mouth dropped open. I gasped. "But I--I didn't--I never did that!" I protested. Then I stopped. Come to think of it, I could hardly remember what exactly had happened. "I...I thought...I was running. And I ran off a cliff." My voice had grown tiny, like a child's.

Zac's face suddenly softened. He dropped his things and scooted closer over to me, placing an arm around my shoulders. "Winnie," he said softly, "that's not true. That was all a dream."

"Yeah, so his voice is all a dream," I retorted bitterly.

He caught his breath and said nothing. Then, slowly, he turned me to face him. He lifted my chin with a finger. "Winnie," he began earnestly, "Did you...try to kill yourself? Because of Kronos?"

I swallowed and broke away from the overpowering tenderness in his golden eyes. "I--I don't know what you're talking about," I protested lamely, choking back a sob.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," he whispered, pulling me closer, as if I hadn't said anything. "I--keep forgetting. It must be so hard for you."

I bit my lip till I felt the blood run down my chin, but despite everything, a tear still slid out of my eye and traced down my grimy cheek.

I~I~I~I~I

"Everybody, up!"

I moaned and struggled awake. Then, realizing it was not my voice that had called, I sprang to my feet and fell back almost immediately, suppressing a cry of pain. Gritting my teeth, I struggled up again and managed to stumble upright.

That next day was hell.

I could barely move from sheer pain and soreness, but I bit my lip and bravely struggled to mask it. My quest mates politely said nothing about the incident, though apparently Zac had probably already briefed them on what had happened the previous night.

"Um, Winnie?"

I looked up to see Aithne's concerned dark amber eyes staring down at me. I managed a wan smile at her. "G'morning, Aithne."

She smiled back. Then she frowned. "Would you like a new shirt?"

I looked down at myself. Sure enough, the whole front of my old purple t-shirt was shredded and ripped to pitiful curtains, and in addition, it looked like someone had dunked me in a cherry fondue. I grinned sheepishly. "Thanks. A lot."

"Hey, I have a shirt right here!" came Percy's voice. I froze when I detected the mischief in his tone. Aithne and I shared a cautious glance. Uh-oh.

Percy came over, triumphantly holding up an orange t-shirt in his fist. At first I thought it was just a plain Camp Half-Bood uniform, but when I saw the anger cross Aithne's face, I knew my blood pressure was about to have the time of its life. Or death.

Percy grinned evilly and whipped around the shirt to show the front. "I found it in Aithne's pack," he hinted.

It read: _ADHD? Who said I have-- Oh, look! A SQUIRREL!_

Aithne was narrowing her eyes to slits. I caughter sight of her fists clenching and unclenching behind her back. "I'd like to know what exactly you were doing in _my pack_," she said, her voice low and a little strained.

Percy did a little victory dance that looked more like a madman's powow. He ignored her question. "If you don't stop being bossy around me," he began impishly, "I am going to show everyone _all_ of your stupid little t-shirts!"

Aithne bolted to her feet. "They are _not_ stupid little t-shirts!"

I winced and pressed a hand to my forehead, breathing out to calm my rising lack of patience.

"Maybe I should tell everyone how you sleep with a teddy bear," Percy teased. "A teddy bear with a matching t-shirt."

I saw that dangerous tendon rippling in Aithne's clenched jaw. "Maybe," she retorted very loudly, "I should tell everyone _besides Annabeth_ how you drool in your sleep."

Thanatos' thieves. Here we go again.

**A/N: Sorry it was so long. XD I'm starting to be very, very, VERY talkative.**

**Please please please review, as always, my faithful readers! Thanks for all the characters, as usual! I'll try to update by next week! *grins* Now I have to go watch _Home Alone_ with my mom and sis...**

**~Katrina Mae**


	15. Chapter 15: Death? Not to Worry

**A/N: Tada! Here's Chapter 15! I did as you requested, Avalonfreak. *grins wickedly***

**Also, Imani gets some attention here, too! Yay, Imani and your creator Saphiye-the-Night! *claps***

Chapter 15: Death? Not to Worry

Aithne narrowed her eyes at Percy. Her fists were big steel balls, with the tendons flexing in them. I could've sworn I saw the muscles in her arms almost swell. "You are a pain in the butt. You are pathetic, Perseus Jackson."

Percy raised his eyebrows coolly. "As if you saved the world."

Around this time, Annabeth had come back from somewhere--maybe washing herself--and was standing with her mouth slightly open, analyzing the situation. "Percy?" she asked sternly.

"As if you're the hero!" Aithne shot back. "If I get my legends correct, Luke Castellan was the hero of the prophecy, not you."

Percy looked as if someone had just smashed him in the face. "Yeah, right, daughter of a fallen goddess."

"Excuse me?" I positively swear, her hair was crackling with energy. Before I could spring in between them--not that I would want to, considering what happened next--a burst of fire lashed out from her hands.

Percy jumped aside, taken aback. Then he looked absolutely mad. Out of nowhere rose approximately half of a lake's amount of water. The water and the fire rose in columns and clashed against each other with a blinding flash of light. The wind began to whistle and howl in our ears as the two elements clawed each other, hating each other but each one trying to tear at the other.

I stood up. "You two, quit it!" I shouted. I threw my arm forward, and in an expression of my anger, a huge cloud of billowing black smoke burst out and consumed the pillars of water and fire. Soon we were standing in a very acrid clearing with charred grass and a dripping group of "happy" campers.

Imani's jaw dropped. "Wow." That was probably as much strong emotion as I would ever get out of her. Ever.

I turned back to the two miscreants with a glare to match Athena's (sorry, no offense, Annabeth). Percy looked a little abashed, and Aithne was flushed, cross, and ashamed. I crossed my arms. "What exactly, may I ask, was the meaning of all this?"

"Percy insulted my fashion sense," Aithne seethed. "That was the last, _the_ last, straw."

"Well, she insulted the very essence of my being a hero!" Percy whined.

"So much for poetry, Seaweed Brain," sighed Annabeth.

"Well, whatever your silly reasons were, no matter how strong or valid, this was pointless," I said. "Look what you did. You ruin a perfectly good hideout for our return journey," --if there ever would be a return journey, I thought morosely to myself-- "you disrupt everybody's mood, you create a rift between us when there should be none _at all_, you hurt each other's feelings, and you make my job as a leader all the harder. Does your pride really matter? Aithne, there was no need for you to overreact like this. I know it's hard for you, but just like me, you have to keep your temper reigned in. And Percy, you are not excused. You had no right to go through Aithne's stuff and humiliate her in front of the whole group. And Aithne was just speaking the truth about your prophecy. Besides, you're the eldest in this group. You ought to act the most maturely." I took a deep breath and sat back after my mini peace-for-all speech.

Aithne's expression turned sorrowful and weary; Percy looked like a tomato with green eyes. "I'm sorry about that," he mumbled.

Aithne sighed. "I forgive you, Kelp Head, for acting like a toddler. I'm sorry too. I had no right to act like I could just ruin everyone else's day with my own black mood. Even if you _were_ aggravating."

I nodded in agreement. Then I sprang to my feet again. "Well, we've got to get going, guys. I'm glad this was all cleared up." I stopped, pursed my lips, and studied the clearing thoughtfully. I could still feel the electricity of magic coursing through me. I snapped my fingers decisively, and soon the place was shimmering, all bright and new--and looking even better than it did before.

Zac was openmouthed. "How'd you do that? You're not even a Demeter kid or something."

I shrugged and gave him one of my rare grins. "It's like creating a mist, I guess," I explained with a shrug. "If you step here, you can feel where the ground is still wet or still hot. But it just doesn't look like it. I don't how I did it; I just, well, _did_ it."

"That's like healing people by just touching them," remarked Aleici.

I laughed lightly. "Yeah. Like you."

I~I~I~I~I

About an hour later or more, we landed in a pretty deserted parking lot behind a motel or some other seedy business near the heart of L.A. (Yes, of course, we flew.) We were pretty clueless as to where we were.

As usual, sensible Annabeth got out her map, and equally sensible Aleici helped her study it. They decided that we were about two miles away from the D.O.A. Recording Studios, which was the entrance to Hades from the upper world.

"Are you sure we're supposed to go to Hades?" asked Imani, cocking her head to one side as she listened quietly to Annabeth's animated discussion with Aleici.

I turned to her, surprised. "Why? Don't you think that's what the prophecy means?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure."

"It said the 'Doors of Death'," I reminded her.

"Yes," she said slowly. "But wouldn't that be...oh, wait."

I looked at her, studying her piercing amethyst eyes with interest as she stood, lost in thought. "Yeah? What is it?"

"Hades is the Lord of the Underworld," she reasoned. "But he's not the god of the dead. What's his name, that minor god, ta-something, tha-something--"

"Thanatos?" I suggested. I'd just personally sworn in my head a few hours ago using his name, so it was a little hard to forget.

She nodded, her face immediately brightening. "Yeah, that's him. But I thought he lives somewhere else. Like, maybe near Hades, but not really in it."

I raised my eyebrows thoughtfully. I nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right." I straightened and clapped my hands, raising my voice so everyone could hear me. "Okay, guys!" I said. I waited until the five other heads were turned toward me and Imani. "Imani and I figured out that we're not headed from Hades."

Confused looks replied to my statement.

"Thanatos is the god of death," I reminded them, "and the prophecy mentioned the 'Doors of Death'. Therefore, we should not actually be looking for the Realm of the Dead, of the Doors of Death, which would be where Mr. Thanatos lives."

Annabeth raised a finger with an intellectual look. "Good point. Very good point."

Zac shuddered in his toes. "Must we?"

I shot him a pointed glance. "Yes, Mr. Sunshine, we absolutely _must_." At least, I thought, if he didn't want me running around all the time and stabbing myself half to death--literally--whenever I freaked out at Kronos' voice. I'm not one to joke so easily at my own hardships, but hey, everybody needed a boost now and then. Especially my little--well, not little--quest group, and especially now, when we were about to descend to the actual god of death.

Aithne frowned. "Do we know what to expect?"

I cast them all an apologetic expression. "We never know what to expect. Those of you who were on our last quest--Zac, Imani, Percy, Annabeth, and then Thalia--would remember how it was a pretty clueless whirlwind of waiting for signs from the gods and not ever knowing what would happen to us next." I gave a little sigh. "This time, I'm hoping my mother will guide me in some way."

Just as the words left my mouth, a million voices filled my head, cramming it till I felt my temples would burst. I swayed on my feet and shot out a hand to grab onto Zac's shirt for support. Then I heard my mother Hecate's voice, loud and clear over the din in my mind: "Wynter. Be strong and of good heart. The end is near."

Everybody was giving me strange looks of mixed fear, confusion, disgust, concern, determination, and intellectual curiosity. (Yes, you guessed it: Imani, Aleici, Percy, Zac, Aithne, and Annabeth.) Zac was waving a hand in my eyes. "Um, Winnie? You okay?"

I held up a finger. "Hold on." I rubbed my aching head. _Mother?_ I thought to her. _What do you mean, the end is near?_

_There are many different kinds of ends, Wynter,_ she replied, very helpfully. _Remember your prophecy. To storm or fire, the world must fall. It is not the end of the world, but merely of an age. You must ground yourself and be strong. Brace yourself for what is to come._

_Well, what is to come?_ I demanded, with fear, guilt, and confusion all jumbled up in my brain and in my voice.

_Be patient, Wynter. In time, all things of the future reveal themselves. Remember, you have the power to see into the future. Use it wisely. Do not foolishly seek to find out your personal destiny, for then you would turn our back on the course that has been predestined for you._

_Predestined?_ I asked. _Predestined by who?_

_By primordial powers even higher than the gods. Be steadfast. All shall be well, in due time._ Then her voice, and the jumble of other muttering voices, began to fade away.

_Mother!_ I called out frantically. _Answer me one question before you go._

_Yes, Wynter?_

_Where will I find the place where Thanatos, god of death, resides?_

There was a terribly long, long pause in which I nearly feared she had simply left me. But the voices were still there, and pretty soon I heard what sounded like a sigh from her. _Nothing is written in stone, Wynter._

_Mother?_ I asked, probably sounding a little peeved. _What on Olympus does that mean?_

_It means what it says, Wynter. Look to Zeus. Take care always. _Then she and the other voices all faded away for good.

I shook my head and snapped awake. I glanced about at my friends, who were all studying me as if I were literally dying in the street or getting hit by a car or something. "What?" I demanded, perhaps a tad too harshly.

"Okaaay," said Zac, "what was all that about?"

"Talking to my mother over the very poor phone connection in my head," I said, tapping my head and wincing when I felt the first flashes of a headache starting.

"Well, what did she say?" said Aithne impatiently.

I pressed my lips together and thought for a moment. I wasn't willing to reveal to them yet what she'd just told me about the end of the age, but I could at least tell them about my question concerning Thanatos. "I asked her where Thanatos lives," I replied. "All she said was a jumbled 'Nothing is written in stone' and 'Look to Zeus'. What in Orion's orneriness does that mean?"

I was greeted by shrugs and shaking heads and pursed lips.

I glanced about a little helplessly. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm just absolutely clueless on this one. I just don't even know where to _go_."

Suddenly Aleici gasped. "Hey guys, look!" She pointed up toward something in the sky.

I hurried toward her and squinted up at the cloud where she was pointing. Was it really a cloud? No, it was a dark cloudish substance shaping into...numbers. And letters.

It read: _15 Shadowed Arts Boulevard._

Zac whistled. "Bingo!"

I caught my breath. "That's _it_!"

"Huh?" said Percy. "What do you mean, the address, or what?"

"She said nothing is written in stone, and look to Zeus," I rushed excitedly (and rather breathlessly). "The opposite of stone is--air! And the sky is made of air, and it's Zeus' realm. Oh, gee, thanks, Lord Zeus." I gave him a thumbs-up, wherever he was hiding on his throne in the palace on Mount Olympus. I never thought I'd ever thank the very upper deities which I'd always despised for their fickle-mindedness and immature natures. (Whoops, hope you didn't hear that, Lord Zeus. Did I hear a crackle of thunder just now? I hope not...)

Imani was practically dancing in excitement, contrary to the usual quiet, reserved, and brooding nature that I had always known her for until now. "Yeah, that's it!" she cried, pointing up at the sky. "That must be where Thanatos lives. Come on, everybody, let's go!"

"Follow the leader," I joked. I turned to Zac and motioned with my head. "Come on, Sunshine, what're you waiting for? The sky to fall?"

The sky rumbled distantly.

"Whoops," I said, clapping a hand over my mouth.

"I'll go, as soon as I make sure you're all right and not fainting or hyperventilating or getting voices in your head or running off and attempting suicide or jumping off cliffs or waving around black clouds over Aithne and Percy," Zac retorted in one long breath, looking very red-faced at the end of it--and grinning.

I smiled a little and shrugged. "It still hurts," I admitted, meaning the throbbing chest wound. I just wouldn't tell him how much it was bothering me. I still moved a little stiffly, but I suppressed all grunts of pain for the sake of my quest members. They needed a strong leader. "But I'm not going until _you_ are going, Mr. Sunshine."

"You're really pushing that name on me, aren't you?" he teased.

"Well," I said, "it kind of grows on you."

He rolled his eyes and actually burst out laughing. "Come on, Ms. Magic Arts, we've got to go meet Mr. Death."

"This is not a laughing matter," I warned him. And burst out laughing.

**A/N: Hahaha. This is just a transitional chapter...but a pretty long one, and funny, too. I couldn't help reading and reading this over again, for some reason. *bursts out laughing for the nineteenth time***

**Anyway, what do you think? I really WANT REVIEWS PLEASE! Thanks!**

**~Katrina Mae**


	16. Chapter 16: No News Is Good News

**A/N: Soooorry for the long delay. Did I mention that my parents cut the Internet connection at home? I guess not. From now on, I will be updating less frequently, only when I get to drop by the library, but I'll be updating in bulk. I'm back to school now, so that means more time in between updates, but don't worry, I will never abandon my fics. I'll try to update Black Light, Flash, and Dearest next week. Thanks!**

Chapter 16: No News Is Good News

Actually, as we rather quickly discovered, finding 15 Shadowed Arts Boulevard in the midst of a bustling, jostling L.A. would be a Herculean feat. No kidding.

"Excuse me!" I shouted to a cab driver pulling up by the sidewalk.

"Destination?" he barked roughly.

"15 Shadowed Arts Boulevard," I replied, drawing my fingers through my tangles waves in agitation as was my habit.

The driver frowned through his bushy mustache and shook his head. "Never heard of the place. Sorry."

I whipped out a twenty-dollar bill and waved it agitatedly in his face. "We've got the money! We're not just...just thugs off the street."

"That's debatable," he replied testily. "But that's not the point. You got no destination, and you got no business with me, kid." To prove his point, he rolled up the window on me and pulled into the main road away from us with a screech of emphasis.

I sighed in frustration and stamped my foot on the curb, near tears--though we'd all had enough of that, not excluding me. I bit my lip and kept back the flow. Instead, I swallowed hard, turned around, and faced the others. Just as I opened my mouth, Annabeth and Aleici came up with the most excellent idea I'd heard in approximately six hours and twenty-seven minutes at exactly the same time. Imani had already whipped out her magic silver cell phone.

"Why not call the Grey Sisters' cab?"

I~I~I~I~I

"15 Shadowed Arts Boulevard. What took you so long?"

The old haggish woman at the wheel who had one good eye peered up at me crankily at my outburst. I was getting pretty high-strung nowadays, and believe me, I was none too happy about it. And neither were the people around me. "Got delayed," she rasped out thinly. "Got other people to pick up, you know." She shook out a dusty, rumpled newspaper from somewhere in the depths of her rather grimy sleeve and waved it in my face. "Roadblocks along the way, too, if you can call 'em such," she cackled. She turned to share a bitter laugh with the two other old ladies squished together in the passenger seat next to her. (More like, one was buried in the console between them.)

I grabbed the newspaper and scanned it quickly, if only for lack of something to do to calm my nerves. The headline read in angry bold letters: "Giant Tsunami of All Time to Hit Hawaii and California Coast."

My eyes widened. I couldn't read much, and I wasn't sure if I had read _tsunami_ right because I'd never seen the word before in my whole freaked-out life, but my suspicions--and fears--were confirmed by Zac's gasp behind me.

I traveled down the page numbly and read the secondary headline: "Uncontrollable Wildfires Continue to Ravage California Countryside."

I whipped around to the others. Percy was scratching his head and looking a little helplessly at a shocked Annabeth, Aleici was looking slightly sarcastic and panicked and stoic at the same time (that girl could really do the most impossible expressions), Imani was simply agape, Zac was biting his lip and fidgeting on his toes, and Aithne was crossing her arms and pulling at the innumerable knots in her angry red hair (as if it would help much--besides, I beat her when it came to tangles).

I lowered the newspaper. "Looks like somebody's angry," I observed wearily.

"Hmm," Percy acknowledged with a shrug and a nod. "Looks like my dad's angry."

"And my mom," Aithne sighed boredly. She picked at some dirt under her overgrown fingernails.

The cranky granny honked the horn loudly behind me. "You kiddos going to get in or what?"

I motioned impatiently with my head, and the seven of us all piled in in the back. (I wondered to myself if it was expandable, or if it was just possible that Zac wasn't complaining about my sitting on the tail of his t-shirt.) I sighed and blew the hair out of my face as I sank down as comfortably as I could and listened to the three grannies up front argue and shout as they tossed around the driver's good eye, each one screeching for a turn to use it. Well, the only screech I heard was the tires as the driver took turns on two wheels.

I groaned. "How can any of you stand this?"

Percy grinned at me across the seat. "I've been in this cab about, oh, maybe four times now. You just get used to it." Still, I thought he looked kind of green. Come to think of it, so did the rest of us.

I cleared my throat and straightened. "Okay, guys, we just found out something really, really important in the news, and something kind of disturbing, too. Obviously, Poseidon and Hestia are not pleased. Whether it's with each other, or with the world, or possibly with _us_, is the very, very disturbing question."

"Hear, hear," said Aleici softly. I gave her a quick nod.

I cocked a brow and glanced about. "I don't know these gods as well I probably should, but already more than I'd like to, and we're all very aware that two of their kids happen to be in our presence right now. Any--" I cried out and muttered a curse as I fell heavily on the floor of the cab when the Grey Sister driving bumped down a flight of stairs. (Stairs? _Stairs?!_) Thankfully, Zac pulled me up by the back of my borrowed t-shirt from Aithne. "Thanks," I huffed. I cleared my throat and continued. "Any ideas?"

Percy looked uncomfortable. "Uh..."

I turned to Aithne. "Well?"

She twisted her lip. "Maybe...because _we're_ fighting," she suggested with a knowing shake of her head.

I motioned with a hand. "And?"

"And they're mad because Percy and I are mad at each other," she finished slowly. "Like, saying bad stuff to each other."

I snapped my fingers. "My thoughts exactly. Now how exactly to solve this problem...is currently a concern."

Imani raised a hand. "Do these environmental-slash-godly-issues actually affect us in any way right now?"

I nodded solemnly. "Both storms, water and fire, are predicted according to this article to hit L.A. pretty soon and pretty hard."

"Oh." Imani nodded and turned away, tugging at a stray inky lock thoughtfully. "Yeah, that's pretty bad."

"Wynter," began Annabeth.

I turned quickly to her, immediately recognizing that uh-oh-I've-got-a-weird-and-urgent-discovery tone in her voice. "What?" I must have sounded somewhat panicked myself.

"This fulfills the first part of the prophecy," she said slowly, and quoted, "_Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. / To storm or fire, the world must fall._"

"Must it, really?" asked Aleici.

I nodded gravely. "If the prophecy says it must, then it must." I paused. "Personally, I don't really give one fleck of dust to the weight of these prophecies, but apparently just about all the gods would disagree--"

"Especially my dad," Zac put in. "Apollo is the god of prophecy, too, you know."

I flashed him a sheepish smile. "I did not know that."

"Well, know you know that, Ms. Magic Arts."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Sunshine."

The two of us laughed tentatively. I glanced around and saw Annabeth cracking into a grin, Imani smiling slightly, and Aithne glaring fiercely at a defensive Percy for some weird reason. Was I missing something?

On the other hand, I didn't give a hair about facing imminent death. Maybe later, but at the moment, I was feeling rash.

I~I~I~I~I

"Well, here we are. 15 Shadowed Arts Boulevard." I sighed in wearied contentment and brushed myself off as I stood straighter on the broken curb, facing the tall dark house that hardly seemed occupied. Maybe in the past couple of centuries, but not for the last two years.

"Thanatos lives here," Zac clarified, sounding nonplussed.

I nodded. "Yep."

"And we're going inside," he went on.

I nodded harder. "Yep."

"And this is possibly our last night alive."

I nodded even harder. "Yep."

"Thanks for the quick info, Ms. Magic."

"You're welcome, Sunshine. Enjoy the sunset while you can."

He glanced about behind him. "Sunset? I don't see no sunset."

"Ahaha," I said. "So you see one."

He sighed in resignation. Furtively, in the dark, he reached out and touched my hand; instinctively our fingers twined around each other.

Suddenly something growled somewhere rather close _around_ us. I tensed, almost jumping out of my shoes on my toes. "Annabeth," I whispered, "please tell me that is just someone's stomach."

"No, it's not," she hissed back. "If it were, we would have a much smaller problem than we do now."

My eyes were probably popping out of my head in the dark. "What's our problem?"

"I know that sound," said Imani behind me. "That sounds like Cerberus."

"There's a _hellhound_ near us?!" I shrieked in a whisper.

I could imagine Aithne rolling up her sleeves (if she had any) as she spoke. "We'll take him down like we did to the other monsters."

"_You_ did, not me," I reminded her with a twinge of gratitude and panic at the same time.

"Oh, yeah, that's right," she muttered in reply.

It--or _they_--hit us far before we were prepared. But, hey, even if we had had a warning, I don't think we would ever get close to calling ourselves prepared. Actually, I wasn't really sure if anybody else was hit, because I know I was.

All I was aware of was Zac's shout as his hand abruptly left mine, and a couple of arrows whistled through the night above my head. I whipped around at the hot breath on the back of my neck, every hair on my head raised as much as my muscles were stretched taut over my bones. I blinked. And then I saw it: that pair of dark obsidian eyes, hungrily tracking my every move, with clawed paws clicking on the pavement as it came closer.

I instinctively reached for my sword, which was pulsing almost frantically with a sharp electric blue at the very obvious presence of a monster. I slowly unsheathed it and held it before me, daring the hellhound to come one step closer.

To my faint annoyance, it did.

And then something else happened: suddenly, I was all wet. I was pretty sure now we were _all_ wet, because I saw the crest of the wave for one millisecond of a millisecond before I went down hard on the curb, and a blinding pain pierced the skin of my arm as the hound's fangs sank into me.

I was probably too tired to scream, but I heard Aithne cursing and Aleici giving a strangled cry. I had absolutely no idea who I was, where I was, what was happening, and where I was going. I blacked out.

**A/N: Sorry for the cliffie...I wanted to make up for the short chappie. To clue you in, you'll be seeing Calypso and Gaia in the next chapter. Until then, please review!**


	17. Chapter 17: I Thought Gaia Was a Network

**A/N: I'm truly very sorry for the delay. If you knew what I was going through, you--never mind. Let me just say, I have been grieving the loss of my first and best friend, who died this Valentine's Day.**

**Sorry about that rain on the parade. I'm here to write, so please enjoy.**

Chapter 17: I Thought Gaia Was a Networking Site!

I didn't wake up slowly and groggily with the blessed sweetness of amnesia like most people do when they're facing imminent death--instead, I felt something hairy and bitter in my mouth, and everything flashed across my mind in a nanosecond. I jackknifed to my feet. Literally.

It was then that I discovered three thrings of varying importance and disturbance: 1) the bitter and hairy stuff in my mouth was a blanket made out of bear skin; 2) my right arm was throbbing like all the fires of Tartarus; and 3) I was genuinely, really, totally, completely, unarguably _lost_.

I stumbled and struggled to keep my balance as the blood rushed up through my legs and my body. I took a deep, shaky breath and swiveled jerkily and rather ungracefully about (contrary to my dancer's background), shooting out my hands to the sides in search of a handhold, and examined my dim surroundings. I stretched and found that I was in some sort of cave with a low ceiling--both of which conclusions I arrived at by the sudden and painful bump when I straightened myself. The crackle of a fire immediately caught my ears somewhere to my left, and though my vision was still a bit hazy, I could sense the varying levels of warmth of wherever I was (I was born from blue fire, duh). I picked myself up from where I'd humiliatingly sprawled myself on the stony ground and practically crawled over toward the fire.

A cool hand touched my shoulder, and I whipped my head around, eyes pulsing icily with fright. I encountered a pair of very concerned deep green eyes set in a glowing face framed by wispy waves of dark hair.

The girl hardly seemed any older than sixteen. "You're awake?" she spoke. Even her voice was soft, lilting, soothing, just like the mere sight of her face.

"Obviously," I grumbled testily. Then, like the idiot I usually was, I realized that she was my host. I bit my lip, instantly regretting my tone.

Instead, the girl was kind enough to help me up with a thin, strong hand and led me toward the fire. She reached somewhere into the shadows of the cave and presently came up with a shallow silver bowl with snowy white milk in it. I took it with a wary nod of thanks and sipped tentatively. It was sweet and positively delicious. In less than twelve seconds, it was gone.

I finally got up the sense to actually get my bearings. "Where am I?" I inquired as politely as I could.

"On my island," she said simply.

I gawked. "_Your_ island? Are you some rich kid or something?"

She smiled sadly in slight amusement. "No. My island of exile."

"Oh." I blinked. "Well, that's an entirely different story, I see." I studied her closely. "Your face...it seems as if I read about you, I mean, _heard_ about you somewhere."

Her voice was sweetly melancholy. "I am Calypso," she confessed. "I once knew Percy Jackson."

"Percy!" I squeaked, and half jumped up from where I was. I thought better of it--or rather, my complaining muscles thought better of it--and I sank back down again. Now I remembered Annabeth telling me some sort of story before, about Percy meeting this girl/half-goddess or something when they were thirteen years old. This must be it.

Calypso nodded slowly. "You are Wynter."

I sighed. "My name is one of the only things I hate giving out to people." I frowned. "How'd you know?"

She shrugged lightly and studied the intricate pattern of embroidery enveloping her silvery white chiton. "Injured people tend to talk in their sleep."

"Oh, my, Zeus!" I practically yelled. It all hit me then like a tsunami. "Where's Percy? And Zac? And Annabeth? And all the others? What happened to the hellhound? And why the heck am I not in Thanatos' den?"

"You were...bitten," she stated as a matter of fact. "You almost died. So, naturally, I sensed your presence and brought you here to my island."

"Like, in the middle of the Arabian Sea?" I burst out. "Where in Aphrodite's airheadedness am I?"

"As I said, on my island," she repeated patiently. "It does not physically exist on earth, and you cannot find any island to represent it on the map. It exists in time...between then and now. Between death and life. Between the worlds." She paused. "And that is basically where I am, I suppose. Ever between the worlds."

"Oh?" I stopped. "Ohhhh. Right." If I recalled right, Calypso was the daughter of--gulp--Atlas...who was, essentially, a Titan. Not that _she_ did anything wrong, but because he was bad, I guess the Olympians thought _she_ was bad. So that explained the exile and all.

My relatives could be so mean.

I was so lost in these angry thoughts of confusion that before I knew it, I had fallen dead asleep again. And I never even got to collar the nice girl and demand how in Tartarus I was going to get back to my friends.

I~I~I~I~I

When I woke up again, Calypso was seated at some sort of ancient-looking loom not too far away with her back to me. Immediately she sensed my tiny movement and turned around with a thin smile. "Some breakfast?"

Visions of that sweet milk and possibly some warm, toasty, solid food lured me out of bed. I nodded briefly and stretched. Already I was beginning to feel so much better.

Presently Calypso reappeared from somewhere deep in the cave--she'd padded away while I sat up in bed in my distraction--bringing with her that wonderful bowl of milk and a wooden plate of some very Greek-looking breakfast. Just like the night before, I took it gratefully and devoured my meal. I wasn't even ashamed anymore of my manners. I was, well, _hungry_.

"Someone is here to see you," she informed me, gesturing toward the bright sunny entrance of the cave.

My blue eyes widened. "Who is it? My friends? Zac? Are they coming to get me?"

She smiled a bit but shook her head. "I'm sorry, it is not your friends. But you could say it is a friend-to-be. Treat her with respect." She motioned at her loom. "I will be here if you need me for anything when you are finished."

I pursed my lips. From pure subconscious, I glanced down at myself and almost shrieked out of my skin at just how wild I looked: a faded t-shirt with one sleeve torn off and the other caked in dried blood, a shredded skirt (and my favorite one, too!), and a large bandage wrapped around my upper arm near my shoulder, legs laced with an assortment of lacerations sporting varying levels of depth and length, and a mop of hair enough to rival an oriole's nest.

Sensitive Calypso immediately noted my frantic look and pointed quietly to a pile of clothing at the foot of my bed. "I set out fresh things for you," she suggested helpfully.

I gave her a weary nod of relief and thanks before dragging myself off to a shadowed corner of the cave to dress before presenting myself to the mysterious "visitor." It turned out she had given me some sort of ice blue sun dress, with a flowing cut and a breathtaking iridescent fabric that both tried to keep up with the times and was reminiscent of the ancients. Frankly, I admitted, even though the girl told me she was isolated, she had some fashion sense in her. Not to be facetious, that is, but maybe Aphrodite visiting her annually or something and even hosted fashion shows on this picturesque island.

The last thing I needed to take care of...was my hair. Throwing all etiquette into the sea (literally), I raked through my wavy flames with my bare hands, perking up at the tingling in my roots, until my hair was all relatively smooth.

I was about to open my mouth and announce that I was ready, when the "visitor" fluidly appeared in the doorway of the cave. It was a woman I had never seen in my entire life before, very tall and of impressive stature.

"Wynter Popplewell," she addressed me.

What was it with people always knowing my name?!

"I would like to speak to you privately," she informed me. Her voice kind enough, and I complied--well, not that I wouldn't, considering the fact that she was obviously a _goddess_.

I stumped along behind her until we had reached a relatively isolated spot down on the beach of this rather isolated island in an isolated world. She sat down on a dry boulder, and I followed suit, finding my own small crag next to hers. I flicked my icy eyes at her surreptitiously and got a pretty good look at her. She was, indeed, even taller than I had first thought, and lean but strongly built; her skin was deep tan, and her eyes were a bright sage forest green. Her hair fell in silky light brown waves down her back. She was wearing some sort of dark green t-shirt with a kind of eco-friendly message on it, paired with a brownish grass skirt-imitation wrap on the bottom.

Her voice snapped me back to attention once more. "I am Gaia," she began.

"Like the online network?" I blurted. I clamped down haaaard on my tongue.

Instead, she took it as a joke and actually laughed. She was so quietly, intensely beautiful in everything she did--even the way she threw back her head and laughed. Her yellow gold chandelier earrings jangled merrily with her peals of laughter.

When at last she had stopped, and I was done gaping at her, she composed herself--which was hardly necessary, considering how beautiful and graceful she had been even in the throes of amusement--and said moderately, "Many people say that about me. You do not have to worry about offending me."

I smiled tentatively. "Thank you."

"Now, where was I?" She had an endearing sort of careless, motherly air which I took to instantly. "Ah, yes. Your mother Hecate spoke to me a few weeks ago, Wynter, and made an agreement with me."

My expression immediately became guarded. "What about?"

She reached out a hand and gently took the round wooden carved pendant hanging from a leather thong round my neck. She lifted it away and took it in her own hand, examining it closely. Instead of answer my question right away, she merely nodded. "Yes, this is the one. This is the token I gave your mother, which she would pass on to you to reveal later to me as a sign."

"A sign?" I burst out impatiently. "A sign of what?"

"A sign of our pact," she repeated calmly. "She told me all about what had happened to you, Wynter. I must tell you truthfully that I am deeply sorry about what has transpired in your young life."

I lowered my head and nodded. "Thank you."

"She pledged her eternal allegiance to me," Gaia went on.

I whipped around. "She what?"

"She promised to serve my in whatever need I may have for all time," she rephrased more specifically for me.

My jaw detached itself. "But that's, just, like..."

"A grave promise indeed," Gaia concluded my sentence for me with a sage nod. "And one not easily broken without consequences. Yes, I know. And so does she. But she thought it little recompense for what she asked of me. She begged of me my blessing on her daughter, that I might save your life."

I was barely coherent. "Save my wha--"

And then it came to me: Janus' prophecy. Either I died, or Zac died. But I had already made up my mind long ago, and Janus knew the decision I would make. There was no way I would just let my friend--my best friend, my companion, my very _soulmate_--fall because of me. I was the heroine, the leader, the afflicted, the sacrificer. I was going to be the one to die.

And Mother, in all her confusing betrayal and kindness, had found a way out of it.

"Wynter?" Gaia's gentle voice prodded me awake.

I nodded vigorously. "Yes?"

"I would like now to give you my blessing." She placed a soft, firm hand on the top of my head and lowered it; then she droned some ancient Greek incantation in that wonderful honey-like voice, and suddenly a warm wind enveloped me. I risked a peek through my tightly squeezed eyes and gasped. All around me, the leaves were rustling, the wind was whistling, the water was whooshing, and a fire was roaring, all in a tight circle. The four elements were spinning around and around, faster and faster, ever higher and tighter, completely surrounding me till I felt it hardly possible. The round pendant hanging from my neck, divided into quarters, now rose of its own accord from where it rested on my chest, and accordingly each element separated from the rest and spiraled down into its representative symbol etched deep into the wooden circle. In a moment, I was standing on my bare toes in the sand, mouth agape, as I stared at the pendant about my neck pulsing with a rainbow-hued glow.

Slowly I raised my eyes to meet the deep, warm gaze of Gaia, the mother of all nature. She was...smiling.

"Congratulations, Wynter," she whispered, as if almost afraid it was the wrong word but the best word to use. "You have been granted a measure of my power...and a second life. Use them wisely."

My eyes brimmed with moisture. I blinked once, twice, thrice, but they wouldn't go away; despite my iron will, the tears spilled over. Without warning, I threw my arms around her body and squeezed her with all my might. I cried and cried into her own t-shirt, and it must have been five full minutes before at last she broke off the tight embrace and I drew back with a guilty gulp.

"Thank you so much," I whispered back, my voice all choked up.

She inclined her head. Then she flowed to her feet. "I must go now," she informed me. "But remember these gifts. Use them for good."

And with that, she disappeared in a blasting column of the four elements.

I~I~I~I~I

"I just want to thank you so much...for everything," I said for the umpteenth--no, zamillionth--time that morning.

Calypso sighed and even laughed a bit, reaching out to ruffle my hair behind my ears. "You are redundant, Wynter," she informed me.

I grinned at her. "Whoops. Sorry."

"That is all right." She sighed again, but this time much more wistfully. She looked down once at the pack I was carrying in one hand and quickly glanced away again, as if the sight of her weaving pained her. I know, I know, she was a perfectly superb weaver, and no, her work was absolutely beautiful. But she hated to see me go.

"This is just like...when...Percy came," she said, low and broken.

I dropped the pack and flew to her side, instinctively snaking an arm around her shoulders.

"I crave a friend, any friend, just someone who will stay and be with me and really care about me," she whispered. Surreptitiously she swiped at a tear in her other eye.

I patted her, doing my best to put on my leader's cap and comfort her adequately. "I'll come back, promise. By my own heart."

She shook her head and looked up at me with a bittersweet, heart-rending smile. "I don't think you can ever come back," she said. Her expression just broke my heart.

I knit my brows in confusion. "What?"

"This is a magical place, a half-world between the worlds," she said. "You cannot come here...unless the Fates will it that our paths cross."

My brow darkened. "Darn the Fates."

She laughed a little, but the soft laugh faded so quickly. "Their will cannot be overturned, Wynter. You know that. It worked in the life of Luke Castellan."

I shrugged. "Yes. But..."

She studied me, her expression expectant as I paused for a long time. "Yes?"

"I have a feeling about this," I finally confessed. My voice grew stronger even as I said the words. "A very good feeling. We will meet again someday, and not too far off in the future."

She smiled for real this time, and for the first time ever real joy shot out of her deep eyes. All pain and guilt and sorrow were effaced from her eyes in that one moment, however brief it was, and my own heart glowed in happy pride for that one second that she was truly happy. "You are the daughter of magic," she stated, "and so I have no choice but to trust your foresight."

Not that she sounded the least bit unhappy about that.

I hoisted my pack onto my shoulder and gave her one last squeeze around the shoulders. Surprisingly, she was not that much taller than me, and so it was not too hard to press my cheek against her silky hair and give her a kiss on the cheek. Then I turned and faced forward toward the beach. I began walking.

I didn't even need a raft or boat like the one she'd crafted for Percy to travel back to camp over the sea in. I was the daughter of the goddess of magic. I _was_ magic. This was a magic world; I could do anything here. And so, slowly, with only one long, poignant, promising glance behind me, I reached forward my hand and released myself.

The air rippled faintly; then the ripple grew into a wave, and suddenly the wave broke into a fissure in the atmosphere. I could see a dark tunnel through the hole in the air. Without any further hesitation, I stepped through.

I knew I was going back to Kronos' voice, back to pain and hurt, back to the hardest decisions of my life. After three days on Calypso's island of perfect peace and bliss, it was a remote but alarming thought.

But then, I realized, I was going back to see my friends. I was going _home_.

**A/N: Next chapter up tonight, I promise. In the meantime, please review...**

**~TOIMI**


	18. Chapter 18:Confusions and Compliments

Chapter 18: Confusion, Compliments, and Corny Surprises

I gasped.

The wind was whistling past me, pushing me off my feet, and I gritted my teeth and bent myself forward against the shooting sparks of blue fire whizzing by my head and through my crackling hair. I took a step forward, and then I was falling, falling, falling, down and down and farther down into a spinning cosmic world of space. I was going down deeper into the darkness.

And then I was floating, out of my body, rising toward the bluish wavy surface above me. Was I swimming? I could breathe.

Then my head abruptly broke through the surface. At the same time, a blast of icy air split my face. My mouth opened wide and I gulped in humongous gasps of air. All I could feel all over my body was _PAIN_.

I thought I heard voices, saw blurry shapes around me, but I could not be sure. I closed my eyes, then opened them again, blinking. I waited for my vision to clear; it took a long, terribly confusing moment before it did. But it was worth the wait. I looked directly up to see Zac's face bent over mine.

"She's awake!"

The euphora and relief and tearful emotion in his voice rent my heart. I heard incredulous gasps and cries of astonishment somewhere up near my head, and I thought I caught Annabeth's voice snapping at somebody (none other than Perrr-cy) to get me a pillow.

I reached out my arms and waved around, searching for a support. Immediately Zac was there, and his strong arms supported my back as I slowly creaked into a sitting position. I swiveled my head carefully, aware of how the pain had subsided just as quickly as it had come, leaving me rather sore all over, particularly in my bandaged shoulder.

Zac's voice was breaking. "Winnie!" he whispered, holding me to him. "We thought we'd lost you for good. We didn't know if...if he had taken you."

I glanced up and saw Imani and Aleici bending over me with concern etched in creases all over their faces. Aleici felt my pulse and measured my temperature by my forehead, but I suppose nothing else was seriously wrong with me, because she merely pressed her lips together and nodded in satisfaction.

I suddenly snapped fully awake. "Wait, taken?" I repeated thickly. "Oh, about that...how long have I been gone?"

"Gone?" Annabeth repeated. "You weren't gone. You were lying injured here with us...but, what happened? I mean, all of a sudden you just popped into consciousness in a completely different outfit."

"Huh?" I shook my hazy head. I looked down at myself: I was wearing the same ice blue dress which Calypso had given me. Then I realized what they were saying. "Oh!" I exclaimed loudly, and would have successfully bonked myself on the head with a fist if Zac hadn't solicitously caught it and held it back. "No, no, no," I rushed breathlessly to explain. "That's not...but I--I _left_."

"Left?" This was a first for a confused expression from Aithne. I smiled faintly at the familiar sight of her.

"I...went to...Calypso's island," I drew out slowly.

"Then that would explain the dress," Zac said kindly, flashing me a smile.

I grinned back at him.

Percy and Annabeth were both shaking their heads. I couldn't help noting that Annabeth's brow had darkened at the mention of Calypso's name. "But that's just not possible!" she burst out. "When...when Percy went--_there_, he literally, physically disappeared."

I shook my head in response and shrugged. "I don't know. But I went there. And..." My voice trailed off. I abruptly switched subjects. "What happened?"

"Since...you were gone?" said Imani. "Truthfully, a tsunami hit us." She grinned to herself. "Tsunami rhymes with Imani," she mumbled as an afterthought.

Aithne was glaring at Percy.

"And on the other side, we got fried by a wildfire," cut in Aleici.

Percy was glaring at Aithne.

To their utter astonishment, I began to chuckle. "This is, so, totally--" I stopped abruptly and hissed like a raptor at all of them, my breath coming in heavy, labored jerks.

"Winnie?" Panic surged forth in Zac's voice behind my head.

"I can't--I didn't--owww..." I was barely coherent. The injuries of my body were gone, but my chest was throbbing as if a wildfire were raging inside me around my heart. A shard of ice stabbed itself deep into my breast.

"Aleici!" Percy, for once, was reacting sensibly. "What the heck is wrong with her?"

The Iroquois girl placed her cool palm against my brow once more. A deep frown began to fill the smoothness of her face.

At the same time, the darkest, most unwelcome presence began to fill my mind. _Wynter._

_Go away,_ I snapped. As if that would have helped, idiot that I was.

_As long as you lead this quest,_ he continued, unfazed, _by my scythe, I swear that I will make your life a living hell._

"Your scythe became ash a long time ago," I retorted aloud, "and look who's the one in Tartarus."

Zac caught his breath. "_He's_ inside her."

I blinked, realizing that I had spoken aloud. No doubt they were going to commit me now for good to the Pyschiatric Center of Los Angeles. Or Denver. Whatever. Which reminded me...

"Where are we?" I asked suddenly.

Annabeth glanced around us. She seemed to guess my thoughts. "We're already in L.A., remember?" she reminded me. "We're...still not that far from Thanatos' place."

I shuddered involuntarily.

"Hey, I thought _you_ were the one chiding _me_ about being afraid of dark places," Zac joked.

I turned to him with an appreciative but slightly distracted and rather idiotic smile.

"You're not yourself," Aithne stated, sighing and rolling her eyes. "Could you just _please_ tell us what's wrong?"

I shook my head a little. "Nothing. It's just that...after three days on Calypso's island, free of any kind of pain or--or _voices_, it's a little shock to me coming back to earth. I mean, I was living in a magical _half_-world for three days."

"I'm guessing," Annabeth cut in, "_some_thing went on there."

I sighed and rolled my eyes, which made Aithne roll _her_ eyes at me. I seriously considered continuing the rolling-eyes competition just to avoid the subject, but Annabeth was a tough gal. She wouldn't get off my back that easily.

"All right, all right," I relented at last.

"What happened?" Percy pressed.

I frowned irritably. "I'm getting to that. Exactly what I'm _going_ to tell you."

Annabeth glared at Percy, then broke into a beautiful smile at his confused, endearing expression. She pecked him swiftly on the cheek and then turned back to me, all composed and intellectual once more. It was rather...amusing, the transformation of countenance having taken less than a millisecond, I swear.

"May I interrupt?" spoke Zac, just as I was opening my own mouth to say something.

I gave an exaggerated sigh of exasperation and threw up my hands. "I totally get you now, Annabeth," I remarked, slanting my glance toward her smiling face. "_Every_one interrupts you."

Zac squeezed my arm apologetically. "Sorry. I just wanted to say...you look different. I mean, you _feel_ different."

"What?" I turned around to him, all bewilderment.

"It's like--it's like...you have this sort of glow, almost," he breathed.

I caught my breath. "I get it--" I stopped suddenly. Slowly, cautiously, I looked down at myself; my arms were slightly paler, with a very, very faint golden light in the sun. Then, all full of a surge of energy, I sprang fluidly to my feet.

I _was_ different.

I was lighter, smoother, faster, in every aspect, every thought, every movement.

Aithne was openmouthed beside me. "Your...hair!" she breathed. "There's a wind blowing through it."

"And your eyes," remarked Imani. "They're so..._fluid_. And clear. Like water."

Aleici took my hand and almost jumped back, yelping in surprise. "Your skin is burning!"

Even Percy turned his head my way. "Where's that lavender smell coming from?"

Annabeth gave him a strange look. "How in Hades did you know what lavender smells like?"

Percy shrugged and smiled crookedly back at her. "I've smelled your perfume before."

"You--!" She made as if to punch him, then hugged him awkwardly instead. Percy smiled into her golden head and hugged her back briefly.

Zac shook his head and took a good, long look at me. "_You're_ the one who smells like lavender," he noted pointedly. "Come to think of it...you're the only one who's even clean around here."

"Mmm...mm?" I said, intelligently. Absently I ran my fingers through the silvery folds in the unearthly ice blue dress draped around me.

"Wynter, what happened to you?" said Percy.

I was at a loss. I stared round at the six expectant faces with my mouth hanging open idiotically. "It was on Calypso's island," I repeated from long before. It seemed I couldn't get past that elementary stage in my storytelling.

_Wynter, now is not the time to tell them_, came my mother's gentle, probing voice from deep inside me.

I stiffened at the sudden presence in me, but relaxed at the much more welcome voice of my mother. At least it wasn't _him_. _Why not?_ I demanded.

_It is something they will not understand_, she said simply. Then the tinkling aura around her golden voice began to fade.

I sighed audibly, knowing that these one-minute conversations with her were not worth exploring. I would always, unfailingly, "find out" what she meant. For now, it was merely my place to obey.

"I...uh...can't tell you," I said.

"Why not?" Zac demanded, sounding exactly as I had in my head a moment before.

"Because," I retorted.

Imani looked genuinely bewildered. "Because what?"

"Because, I'm not allowed to." I shrugged, trying to wave away the discomfiting subject. Out of the corner of my eye, I noted Zac's eyes trained on every minute movement I made. Was I truly that different?

"By who?" Annabeth interjected.

I decided it was safe enough to let out this much information. "By my mother, just now."

"Ohh, all right," nodded Percy.

"Well!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands. Was it just me...or had the sound truly been so musical? "Shouldn't we be getting on to, er, Mr. Death's door?"

"How eager we are, fair lady," Zac cried gallantly, pretending to gallop forward with a lance held aloft.

I threw him a mock punch and likewise pretended to disarm him with a mere sweep of my arm. He cast an injured look as he rubbed his "sore" arm.

"Shouldn't we be, like, getting on?" Aithne filled in for us.

I grimaced. "Negligent leader that I am."

I~I~I~I~I

_Here stands the symbol of tormented peace:_

_ Step through and sail the sightless water trail,_

_ Or fall and find what you would never seek._

_ All pass through here for once and without fail._

I let out a long, low whistle as I read the inscription etched in chalky, Grecian-style letters right smack in my face in the center of the door facing me. I flexed my fingers and reached forward a hand, then dropped it again. I turned to whoever was the closest to me with a totally helpless and (I hoped) pitiful expression.

As it happened, Annabeth was the one at my side.

She sighed and rolled her eyes once--not at me, but at the silliness of it all, as I quickly inferred from her following words. "Intimidating," she jested sarcastically. "Mr. Knock-Knock-Who's-There-It's-Death is simply saying that going through _that_ door is completely unavoidable. Nothing special."

"Unless you're still _alive_ when you go through," I retorted, the smile rising to my lips to meet hers.

"A bird-brained idea," she qualified.

"Completely idiotic," I agreed.

"Let's do it," she said.

I stared down at myself, at my pale and very faintly glowing hands in the night which would soon rais themselves to knock. I had to take a deep--and astonishingly silent--breath to steady my nerves. Remember, I told myself. Free my brother. For Mom.

A tiny, half-buried part of my heart fluttered weakly within me. And perhaps, I told myself through my teeth, perhaps, I just _might_ get through without dying. Janus _had_ given me two very clear options, either Zac or me, and I _had_ made my very clear choice. Me. Besides, hadn't the prophecy said something about someone keeping an oath with a "final breath"? That just had to be me, keeping my oath to Mother and--shudder--to Kronos.

After all, weren't the prophecies _always_ right?

All this trembling and pausing and decision-making seemed to take eternity, but when I raised my head and glanced around, I realized that everyone else was in exactly the same position with exactly the same expression as I had seen them a millisecond ago. Turned out that my brain drove like a racecar now, I noted sarcastically. Like I'd be able to use it after I died.

I raised my hand and knocked.

My breath came out in a sudden rushing, gusty sigh, like something had been pent-up in there all the time and had been released in that single knock.

One decision. No turning back.

And then I heard Imani catch her breath as the door creaked open, and a sharp blade of light stabbed my eyes. How ironic--such light in a place of darkness.

Then I realized there was a towering figure standing in the crack of the doorway, blocking out some of the shafts of golden yellow.

My brother.

Jasper.

Alive.


	19. Chapter 19: I Am Officially a Buffoon

Chapter 19: I Am Officially a Buffoon

The wave hit me and bowled me over, literally. I took several steps back, well aware that I looked like a coward even though my reasons were totally different.

Jasper was _alive_. He wasn't dying or incapacitated, as Kronos had made me think, or as my mother had so desperately believed in her maternal fear.

So Kronos had used him to trick me into his servitude.

And he didn't just want me as a spy. He didn't just want full reign over Camp Half-Blood and Mount Olympus. They weren't enough.

He wanted _me_.

_I will not deny it; your power, when unleashed, is more than I have ever seen before--even stronger than your mother's_, he had told me on that fateful night when his spirit entered my body.

Jasper's body had not withstood the battle of magic forces with me; and thus it was too weak to be Kronos'. Now he would inhabit _my_ body and use me to accomplish his will. And it was only my rebellion all this time that had kept me, though not wholly, at least partially the Wynter Popplewell from long ago. Oh, so long ago...

And I _was_ strong, because of all the ties I had. My close bond with Dad, my self-sacrifice for Mom, my furious passion for Zac. A love for Chiron, Imani, Aithne, Annabeth, Percy, Aleici. All my friends, even my petty enemies, back at camp. Not wanting to let go of them. Wanting to save them.

I should have died that last battle when I submitted myself to becoming a shield of fire and ice. But my will was stronger--and I lived. My love was stronger.

I~I~I~I~I

It took but a blink of a moment for all this to flash through my mind. Then my body inevitably did the reflex reaction. I gasped.

The prophecy was unravelling itself at a mind-spinning rate, like a ball of yarn rolling uncontrollably on the floor and unwinding a trail of fiber behind it. I realized that I had been _way_ off in my interpretation.

_An oath to keep with a final breath._

Me. I remembered Janus. Either Zac would die, or I would die. As simple as that. And I had clearly made my choice.

I would die.

_And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death._

With a painful shudder, it hit me with a blast that _I_ was the foe.

I~I~I~I~I

Jasper's half-blue, half-gold eyes were flat and lifeless. Even his tone bore no inflection, no intonation of meaning, as he spoke. "Wynter. Your master awaits you."

I heard discomfited mutterings and confused questions in muted voices as my six friends took in this information. Master? Who was my master? they were wondering.

I only felt Zac remain silent. Of course, he knew.

I gulped and began to feel my hands tremble, starting in my fingers, then traveling swiftly up to my shoulders, so that my breath became ragged and my chest was constricted. It was no longer the pain of my self-inflicted stab wound, but the pain of what I was losing.

My world.

My family.

My love.

"Jasper," I said. My voice was embarrassingly raspy, but I hardly bothered to clear it. "One moment, please."

"Of course," he replied immediately, decorously. His voice was dead. Even his body stayed perfectly motionless in the doorway, as if it would only move when I did.

Slowly, my chin quivering, I turned and found Zac's beautiful golden eyes staring down into mine. I looked up.

"Zac," I whispered. "It was all wrong."

His eyebrows shoved together. "What are you talking about?"

"I..." I struggled for air, and folded my palms carefully over his chest. I smiled faintly at the heartbeat stuttering under my hands. "I'm not the heroine of the Prophecy, Zac. I'm the villain. I am your greatest enemy."

"Oh, Winnie." His face crumpled, and he bent down to lift my chin with his finger. "You're still Winnie. Winnie-the-Pooh. Always _my_ Winnie."

I cracked into a wry grin, but there was a bitter edge to it, and my voice was clogged with choking tears. "This sounds so like a sappy movie. I wish..." I closed my eyes and squeezed out a big, fat, embarrassing tear. "I wish we could fast-forward to the end. I wish we could go back to the beginning and rewrite the script. I wish--" My voice broke.

My hands curled into tight balls on his chest.

"I don't understand." His voice took on that confusion that reminded me with a shattering blow how terribly young he was. How terribly young we _both_ were.

"I am the foe," I barely managed to explain. "And I am the one to keep my oath. I got myself into way more than I bargained for when he entered me." No need there to explain who _he_ was.

"Winnie," he said fiercely, almost angrily. He cupped my face in his large hands and pried my gaze back up at him. "There's _no_ way you are going to give into him! Not now! You've been so strong until here. You can_not_ give yourself to him!"

"Do you think I don't wish that right now?" I yelled back, my voice suddenly too loud. I winced at how my words rang with hurt.

"Nothing is written in stone," he said obstinately.

I shook my head, back and forth, over and over. I drew in my breath in a tiny sigh. "That was my line before. But I was wrong. Terribly wrong." I closed my eyes again, just to escape the pain and anger and hurt in those golden eyes before me. "Zac. I'm sorry."

He removed his hands from my face and grabbed my balled fists instead, clutching them tightly to himself. His voice was tender again. "What in the world are you apologizing for?"

"For falling in love." I choked and couldn't look at him anymore. "For falling in love with _you_. It was the best and the worst decision of my life. I..." I bit my lip. "I wish I didn't have to betray you all like this. To cause so much hurt and suffering. I wish I had never been born. I wish you had never known me. You'd be so much happier and safer. You would find someone else, maybe that cute Demeter kid Penelope back at camp. And _Kronos wouldn't be here to kill you_."

There. I had said it.

"Winnie." Now he was angry again. That was good. Oh Zeus, please let him be angry and break up with me. Then it would be so much easier.

Not for me, I realized. But easier for him.

"Winnie, you're losing it," he breathedly fiercely into my ear. "Don't you _dare_ give up. There's gotta be a way out of this. Somehow."

I shook my head helplessly.

His voice rose the tiniest fraction. "Winnie, do you remember that day we first met? When you read my fortune?"

The memory flashed dimly in my dulled mind. I said nothing.

"You looked into a crystal ball," he prompted me. "You saw me. And you saw yourself, though you didn't know it yet. And you told me that soon I would find the love _of my life_."

"Stop!" I whimpered. I pushed him away. Gods, it hurt so much.

He said nothing.

I took a deep breath and made a huge effort to steady my voice. It worked. "Zac, I have no idea what will happen once I step through that door. But I _know_ that I'm going to die, because those who look upon Thanatos will never come back. And I also know that the last two lines of the Prophecy will be fulfilled past that door." I paused, and risked a glance up. "Zac, will you promise me something?"

His eyes were bewildered, but his expression was clearly honest. "I would never withhold anything from you. You know that."

"I know," I whispered brokenly. I struggled to sound strong again, and my voice rang out sounding like flat brass. "When Kronos fully inhabits my body," I said evenly, "you must promise to kill me at the first chance you have. No excuses. Save our friends from me."

"Winnie, I can't just--"

"Think," I hissed, interrupting him. "Think what would happen if you didn't! Would you want me to wield my magic to make the gods marionets? To take over Olympus?"

He took one look at my bolting blue eyes and nodded silently.

I gritted my teeth. "Say it. Out loud."

"I promise." He took a breath to calm himself. "I promise to kill you. _If_ you become Kronos."

"When," I corrected under my breath, but he did not hear me.

"Wynter?" Percy was at my elbow, his green eyes longing to be useful. "Isn't there _something_ we can do?"

I shook my head. "No."

Zac and I paused and shared a long, burning look. Then, reluctantly, I pulled away. He didn't resist anymore.

I turned and trudged toward the open door with light piercing through the darkness.

Suddenly I stopped. I wheeled around, my heart racing, my mind stopped totally and not thinking at all. I bolted back over the three steps I'd taken away over the charred grass and crashed into him, pushing my lips against his.

He was startled, but a second later his arms enveloped me, pulled me tight against him hard. I didn't protest, but flung my arms around his neck and twisted my head to the side, unleashing every ounce of love I had left in every aching cell of my tiny body, giving him whatever I could give before I lost my soul forever. I could feel both our hearts racing together as we pressed against each other, our pulses matching breath for breath. For that second of eternity, we were _one_.

When at last I realized I couldn't breathe, I sensibly pulled away and found that my feet were dangling about half a foot off the ground as he held me securely in his arms. He didn't let go just yet.

It flashed in my head.

I ripped the necklace from my neck, snapping the leather thong impatiently, and held it out to him. He looked confused, but took the circular clay pendant in one palm. It was still engraved in the four sections, the pictographs of fire, air, earth, and water. Gaia's blessing.

"Yes, there is something you can do," I said breathlessly. "Yes. Maybe. Tell the others. We have all four of our elements. Aithne for fire, you for air, Aleici for earth, and Percy for water. Tell the others," I repeated. "It is Gaia's blessing."

"We will know what to do when the time comes," he assured me.

We raised our heads from the pendant to look at each other. And for the first time, a light shone out of his eyes to match mine.

Carefully he set me down, closing his palm over the clay pendant. "You may go now," he said softly, and it sounded like _You may go now with my blessing._

I turned and swiftly made my way toward the door.

Gaia's blessing. Gaia's blessing.

As my foot crossed the threshhold, my heart leaped in my chest.

Gaia's blessing.

And for the first time, I found a glimmer of hope.


	20. Chapter 20: I Inhabit a Porcelain Doll

Chapter 20: I Inhabit a Porcelain Doll

A blast of heat and blinding white light struck me.

I flung up my arms instinctively over my face and slowed down. I could no longer see Jasper's figure ahead leading me forward; I was floating in a world of white. A white that _hurt_.

Then there was a low hum of voices in my head, unlike the chattering crowd I usually heard when Mom tried to speak to me. This was different. It was crying...and muttering. Even some hysterical, mad laughing. I whipped my head about this way and that, searching desperately for the source of the insane sound, but I still could see nothing.

Suddenly a figure began to materialize ahead of me out of a dark cloud of smoke.

_Whoa_, I managed to think sarcastically. _Didn't know the Underworld had a pollution problem._

Well, it turned out that the Underworld did, except in a different form-Mr.-Death-Who-Checks-Out-No-Guests.

Thanatos.

I thought, that with all the shocks and heartbreaks and emotional roller-coasters and mind-bogglers and chest-stabbing visions that I'd had, I would have gotten very used to being in the presence of, um, powerful beings. But if I thought Hades was scary...

Thanatos was the humongous Statue of Liberty in comparison. Or Death. Take your pick.

"You have stepped through the portal to the land of shadows and shall never return."

His voice was raspy, creepy, totally ghost-like-but it reached me from literally everywhere. It surrounded me in deathly echoes.

Presently I found that I was looking frantically around me, searching for the voice, the spitting semblance of a perfect idiot.

Then a coldness began to creep into me, starting in my heart and spreading through my legs and arms till they reached my hands. My fingers were numb, like useless little logs hanging from me. I was rigid and sore, but I couldn't move my suddenly stiffened muscles.

_Pesticide alert, somebody?_ I thought.

Then I saw his face floating down toward me-literally, since I always had to look up-and Thanatos confronted me with a peerless glare. He looked the younger, more sinister brother of Hades, if that was even possible.

He held out a hand toward me, a hand that looked like it might disintegrate if I touched it, but ironically strong enough to strangle me in a single grasp. "Your master awaits you to fulfill your oath of service," he continued to rasp out. "Let us finish this business."

It was funny how all I could do was think of snide comments but never speak one word. At all. _Oath, schmoath_, I thought.

He took my wrist, and his hold was overpowering. Instinctively I pulled away, but I might as well have been a ten-inch rag doll with its stuffing spilled out. I was compelled to follow-or rather float-after him.

Abruptly he left me, and I was standing (or floating) somewhere in the middle of the excrutiating world of white. The coldness in my body turned into a fire, a raging conflagration pounding through my veins. My limbs came back to life, and in that second I regretted that they did. I felt like I was being torn apart, piece by piece. The white turned into mottled shades of gold and burnt umber before my eyes; I wasn't so sure it wasn't my consciousness fading.

I opened my mouth to scream, and the effort only worsened it.

Voices surrounded me. It was like I was in Tartarus in the middle of heaven.

Another voice, a male voice, grew steadily stronger above the other smaller voices. At first I didn't recognize it-then cursed myself for being a fool for not being able to know the voice of my tormentor and captor. It had come at last to this. And I was all alone to deal with it.

Kronos was chanting some magical Greek incantation, I suppose, and a part of it sounded suspiciously like "pull-my-teeth-out" or something-which I would have done all too gladly-but I was more than sure that that incantation was going to be the death of me.

His last words were in English-or else, in my last moments I understood ancient Greek. "I accept this body as a sacrifice in my honor, a host for my spirit, to be used wisely and to accomplish my will as I see fit. It is the body of Wynter Galjin Koke Popplewell."

I wasn't sure whether he was getting his Mongolian right, or my name either, for that matter, but I sure couldn't say that the formula from _Greek Incantations for Dummies_ was impotent.

I felt like I was a tiny storm cloud made of tiny blue and black particles suspended in space. Slowly I felt myself waning, decreasing, like a sand dune being washed flat out by a steady gust of wind. I struggled for a minute and understood immediately that it was a magic that my own power could not resist.

I~I~I~I~I

It's funny how dying people's brains get sharper, like they're entering the Hades University of Shades. At the moment that was exactly how I felt-I knew exactly what was happening, exactly what had to be done, and exactly why I couldn't do it.

My body was still intact and floating in the dark gooey space. What I had felt crumbling inside me to dust was my spirit-or will, whatever-leaving an empty shell, my fleshly body, completely free of admissions surcharge to inhabit. Kronos had succeeded in erasing me and was now putting himself where I should rightfully be.

_Stupid friends_, I thought, writhing about. _Where are you? What's happening, Gaia?_

Then it happened.

I lifted my eyes and saw the darkness as a tent that was slowly being pierced by a blade of beautiful golden light. Pretty soon I was standing in a charred field with wind, water, sand, and fire raging all around me vehemently. I blinked and wondered what was going on. Then, as the realization hit me, at the same moment my mind and Kronos's became one. Bummer.

My body ballooned and became bigger, impossibly huge, so that I was a Titan standing in the eye of a horrendous storm.

"What's this?" I roared.

Kronos. It was Kronos's voice.

I lifted my hand. It felt heavy and powerful, deadly, at the same time, like a huge sword. I directed my finger at a poof of flames and channeled my energy through my hand. The fire blasted into sparkling vermillion shards. Laughing, I did the same to the sand, which froze and melted into thin air. I moved on to the water. It gushed and gurgled like a baby, then formed a flimsy sheet that folded itself as if inside a linen closet.

I turned to the piercing light.

I shielded my eyes. It hurt. It hurt too much. Snarling in rage, I swept my fist in the direction of the rays and concentrated on blasting it into shattered Sun Chips. But nothing happened. My power only dimmed.

Then a distant voice rang in my ears, one that I must have heard long ago, somewhere, sometime.

"Wynter, what are you doing? Fight him. You can fight him! You have Gaia's blessing!"

I staggered a step back, shocked. My huge godly body shuddered. I covered my ears, but the voice continued.

"You are strong, Winnie! Don't let him possess you!"

I screamed and batted at the unearthly light. I buckled to my knees, raising dust from the earth, and fell forward on my face.

What happened next was weirdly dejà vú. I vaguely recalled my spirit separating from its body amid a great battle before and soaring high above the ruins of bodies, but this was different. A soft voice whispered beautiful sounds in my ears as I took to my wings and left that heavy, suffocating, imprisoning demoniac body behind me. I looked back and saw six haggard figures-Percy, Annabeth, Aleici, Imani, Aithne, and Zac-raising their fists and moving their lips above the fallen giant that once was me and Kronos together. I felt ghostly tears roll down my cheeks. They had joined their power to save me, and it had worked. I may be dying, but at least Kronos was no longer living.

Then the voice laughed so musically in my ears. "Have no fears, Wynter! That is where you are wrong. Kronos is indeed dead, but you are still alive."

If a flying spirit with ghostly tears can gasp, that's what I did.

Standing before me was Gaia herself, tall and stately, in a beautiful golden field dotted with flowers, so unlike the charred battlefield just behind me. In her strong and tanned arms she carried a girl's body, as gently as one would carry a porcelain doll.

"Being called Mother Earth pleases me," she continued to chuckle. "Because indeed, I can pluck any figure I wish from the earth itself. This is your new home, Wynter. Behold."

She let the lifeless body stand before her, and eagerly I flew head-on. For one silly moment I expected to bounce back and land on my head with a broken nose from the impact, but instead I melted right into the body's flesh.

My new eyes snapped open.

**A/N: Ta-da! Review review REVIEW PLEASEEEEE!**


	21. Chapter 21: A Moment of Eternity

Chapter 21: A Moment of Eternity

I walked, slowly and deliberately, back where I'd come, and came to stand directly in front of my six dearest friends, who were now either crouched or sprawled-alternately openmouthed or droopy-eyed-around another body that had shrunk back to its old size. The other me.

Zac was the very first one to turn his head and catch sight of the vision he must be imagining. I continued to flow down the hill, almost dancing, and finally halted in front of him, grinning.

He caught his breath. "Winnie?"

At the sound of his alarmed and/or flabbergasted cry, all other five demigods whipped their heads round at me. Jaws dropped.

I dropped down gracefully into a clear spot among their circle, forming a complete seven once again. I gestured helplessly. "What?"

Annabeth was the first one with wits enough to form a coherent sentence. (I'm terribly sorry, Percy. I know you're an expert swordsman, but your girlfriend is just a wonder. Take it as a compliment.)

"Who-what-where-when-why-how?" she spluttered. "Are you really Wynter?"

I shrugged. "I _think_ I am. Don't you?"

"Then who's this?" Percy demanded, pointing at the red-haired girl lying facedown in the dirt.

I screwed my face up. "Also me."

Aleici was shaking her head stubbornly. "You can't be Wynter. Your face is too different."

The moment she said it, my heart froze and skipped quite a few more than one beat. Had it all been a trick? Was that girl in the dirt truly me, and was I now Kronos inhabiting a new body? Had Gaia tricked me, too?

Hastily I lifted a hand and felt my nose. It was still aquiline. I felt my mouth: it was still a Cupid's bow. I felt my eyebrows-and, horror of horrors, they were shaped. Even the scar down my cheek was completely gone.

At that moment, Zac burst out laughing so hard that he leaned back, lost his balance, and succumbed to the throes of schoolboy giggles right there on a scorched patch of disgusting dirt.

"What?" I shrieked.

"It _is_ you, Winnie!" Imani cried, jumping up. She leaped about overexcitedly-I hadn't overestimated her literal change of character-and sailed into my arms, crushing me almost to death if I were still...well, _human_, in the sense of my old body.

"What did Gaia do, give you an Aphrodite makeover?" Aithne teased, likewise climbing to her feet.

I had to smirk at the flames still sputtering weakly from her fingertips and the ends of her hair. "Guess you could use one too."

Zac was at my side now, regarding my new form with a smile of delight. He traced my lips, my newly shaped eyebrows (growl), my still-stubborn jawline. He even rubbed my now silky auburn hair between his fingers.

"By the way," he murmured, "here's yours amulet."

"Amulet? I don't have any-" I protested, then looked down at his hand, which he had opened up to reveal Gaia's wooden circular pendant etched with the four elements' symbols.

"Thanks," I mumbled instead. Zac grinned.

I took it gingerly, pinching it between my thumb and forefinger-then almost dropped it as it began to glow and pulse until it was a blinding white. Pretty soon I had a tiny jar in the palm of my right hand.

I gaped. Even Annabeth was at a loss.

_Use it to carry the body of the girl back to camp_, spoke my mother in my mind.

I jolted to attention: it had been a jarringly long time since last I'd heard my mother's voice. And, come to think of it, I missed her.

_Thanks, Mom_, I thought back to her.

"Winnie-the-Pooh?"

I whipped my head around at Aithne's face, which was scrunched up like a sponge. I burst out laughing.

"What's up with you?" Aithne demanded. "Loony tuny Kronos got into your head?"

I shot her an impish smile. "Listen! There was no rumble when you said his name."

Zac caught his breath. "He's really gone."

It was then that I let out all my breath in a grand whoosh. All the relief, tears, pain, anxiety, and fear rushed out of me in that one sigh. I was free, at last. The world of half-bloods was free.

"So what's the little jar for?" Percy inquired, pointing.

I raised my eyebrows. "My body."

Zac's jaw dropped. "But you can't just leave-"

I shoved him. "No, silly! I'm still here, Mr. Sunshine. I meant...er..._that_ body over there." I gestured gingerly off to the side and carefully avoided looking at the pale girl in the dirt.

"And how are you going to manage to do that?" questioned Aleici.

I shrugged. "I guess my mom is going to put some spells in my head as I go along."

Without further ado, I knelt down on the grass again and slowly turned over the body of the girl that was me. She was shockingly light, indeed like a rag doll, and her skin was ashen and spine-chillingly cold. I blinked for a long time, then mustered the courage to look at the face.

I gasped.

I could not believe this was me.

Her hair was flat and dead, as if singed; cakes of blood spilled down from her broken nose. The wild slash down the side of her cheek and jaw was intensely ugly, almost pulsing with the brightness of its morbid crimson. Her lips were parched and cracked. I literally felt she would dissolve into dust if I touched her even lightly.

I quickly recovered myself and found that I knew-somehow-exactly what to do. I muttered a few short words in some kind of Greek and held the jar upside down and open above her heart. In a breathtaking whoosh, her body swirled in a cloud of smoke and dust and disappeared into the mouth of the jar, which I then screwed closed.

I examined the jar, even shook it. It both looked and felt like it contained nothing in it at all but air.

Aithne grinned. "Wow. Invisible cremation. Fast, fun, and easy! Just ask Wynter Popplewell, the Winnie-the-Pooh of all Magic Spells!"

I mock-slapped her.

I~I~I~I~I

Once we got back to camp-which, I regret to mention, included some serious carnapping, ticket-snatching, airport-singeing,taxi-summoning, and ultimately police-charming (which still gave me bad memories, but with a new face and now seemingly stunning beauty, I bet even Janus wouldn't recognize me)-we had a few more pleasant surprises than just Mr. D. thinking I was a "new brat" to terrorize.

For starters, there was the note from Demi. Curse her.

When I stumbled into my cabin-yes, the camp had finally gotten around to fulfilling Percy's request for new cabins for "minor" demigods-for the first time, just beginning to inhale the wonderful incense of parchment, sugar, cinnamon (don't underestimate its potency), and my own bag of Doritos, I also inhaled a tiny pink envelope on my freshly made purple pillow. I gagged a considerable amount of time on the perfume of the stationery before I was able to get through to the letter. And when I did get to the letter, my new overactive brain registered the flowery script with both surprising ease and disgust.

_My dearest kitten Wynter, you may have Jasper, but you'll never get me. I'll be back. It's never over._

_On second thought, it never is._

_Yours,_

_Demi C._

My first reaction was to growl in rage and singe the posh pink paper to ashes in my hands. Then, halfway through the most delightfully satisfying process, I changed my mind and magically put it back together again, sans disgusting perfume. I tucked it into my pocket: I would have to show it to Zac sometime, when he was ready. He deserved to know.

Then it hit me like a huge gavel on the head. (Yes, Percy, I still _do_ call myself stupid sometimes.) Demi had just written there, plainly in her own hand, that "you may have Jasper."

Eyes wide, I dropped my bag of Doritos, whirled, and rushed madly out the door.

I~I~I~I~I

"My dear child Wynter! You must have ears so keen and strong to have heard me speak your name within the walls of this Big House."

That was Chiron's way of fondly expressing mild shock at my sudden breathless, disheveled appearance literally in front of him-so close that I would have toppled into his lap if I were the old clumsy Winnie-via teleportation.

(Yes, by virtue of Gaia's blessing, I was now a little more comfortable with utilizing my magic.)

Then I noticed, a little belatedly I admit, dear Zac seated Indian-style on the plush, albeit grimy, maroon carpet. True, Chiron was a responsible steward of the camp facilities, but sadly Mr. D. was not. Especially not a Coke-obsessed Mr. D. I began to seriously wonder if he sneaked in alcohol into his soda-that seemed to be the only explanation for his shameful lack of memory at names.

I tried to subtly indicate to Zac his precarious situation.

"What?" he asked loudly.

I mock-glared. "Sit on a _chair_, Zac. That's what chairs are for."

He grinned, shook his head, and turned his attention back to Chiron...and the other person standing behind him.

My jaw slowly detached itself from the rest of my face. "Jasper?"

He was so different from my last encounter with him-and that was saying a lot. His visage was definitely an awful lot nicer than it used to be; but more noticeable was his somewhat less...mottled look. I don't mean mottled as in splotchy skin-he was too good-looking for that-but his two-toned eyes and two-toned hair were equally gone. Instead, he had laughing sky blue eyes and auburn hair just a tad darker than mine, a perfect match as my brother. Nothing in him, er, _reeked_ of Kronos.

"Hey," he greeted me softly. His voice was so warm.

I let out a breath of disbelief. "Is that really you?"

His face scrunched up. "Who else would I be?"

I burst out laughing right then and there. "I guess you don't remember anything at all."

He raised a brow. "I remember _you_. But..." He trailed off. "You look different."

I shrugged and laughed again, a little more uneasily this time. "Long story."

"Come, Zac," said Chiron suddenly, already wheeling himself toward the door. "I think it would be best if we leave them alone. There is much to discuss." Were my new eyes fooling me, or did his eyes truly twinkle as he said that?

"Sure," said Zac. He sprang to his feet, moved quickly toward me, and kissed me lightly on the lips. "Don't forget, we have dinner later."

"Of course I won't," I protested half-indignantly, and raised my hand to turn him into a salamander, but he was already halfway through the door and chuckling as he went.

I turned back to Jasper, all flushed in mortification. "Er...I...um..."

"Is he your crush, boyfriend, or fiancée?" Jasper asked directly.

"Fiancée?" I repeated incredulously. "Jazz, I'm _fourteen years old_, for crying out loud!"

"Jazz?" he clarified. "Is that my new nickname?"

I pouted. "Well, at least I'm no longer the only one left at camp with a dorky nickname. Aithne and Zac torture me with 'Winnie-the-Pooh'."

"Ah." He wrinkled his nose. "Torture, indeed."

"I'm sorry," I burst out, "but how come you don't have black in your hair or gold in your eyes anymore?"

Jasper turned on me with a puzzled look. "Black hair? Gold eyes?"

I sighed impatiently. "The last time we talked-er, I mean, you held your sword at my neck-you looked like a punk who dropped a contact lens."

Jasper burst into rich, warm laughter. "You're right. I _don't_ remember everything. Either that, or I was completely unaware of my looks during that...time."

"Yeah, that...time," I agreed.

He was fortunate enough to have Chiron's large highbacked armchair to fall into. I regret to mention that I, most unfortunately, had the floor to collapse on. I only realized my bum hurt after our fits of laughter were over.

I~I~I~I~I

"Wynter! O Winnie-the-Pooh, magician of the universe and wizardress blessed by Gaia!"

"Shut up," I called out loud enough for Aithne to hear through the door. I shuffled over and yanked it open, my hair resembling Medusa's and my bathrobe an affront to Aphrodite's fashion sense. "What? It's still early!"

Aithne smirked. "Yeah, if you call 10:45 in the morning early. It's cabin inspection time, chica!" she chirped.

I cocked my head to the side and seriously considered tying her up with my magically enhanced shoelaces.

"Oh no you don't," she retorted.

I sighed. "Admit it. You don't know how to read minds. That was a wild guess."

"Admit it," she shot back, "we know each other so well that I _can_ very well read your mind."

"Ha, ha, ha," I laughed humorlessly in her face. "C'mon, I'm barely ready for inspection. I just got up!"

"That's why Zac Heyerdahl is my partner," Aithne said impishly.

My eyes flipped open beyond their sockets as Zac, grinning lopsidedly, stepped through my royal purple door. "Hey," he greeted me with a kiss on my forehead.

"Hey yourself!" I returned, pushing him away. "Don't kiss me on the head. I have grown a full two inches since the quest, in case Your Sunny Blindness didn't notice."

"I'll...leave you two alone. For now," Aithne emphasized, and bounced out to check on the hopeless Ares cabin.

Zac chortled. "She's a bossy one."

"I heard that!" came her muffled shout from the egg-battered Ares window.

I sighed and shook my head. Then I closed my eyes, concentrated, and pointed my finger at the bare wall. In moments, the whole room was shimmeringly spotless and orderly.

Zac whistled. "Wow! A magic housekeeper!"

I slapped his shoulder. "It's a mirage. Now hurry up and give me a high mark before the spell wears off."

He eagerly complied to do so on his clipboard. When he looked up again, the "neat" room was already beginning to fade away.

I wiped the sweat off my brow and plopped down on my glamorously unmade bed. I gestured to him to join me.

"Magic tires me sometimes," I answered his solicitous gaze. "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine in just a few minutes."

"You know what's so funny?" he said after a pause as he settled next to me.

I glanced up into his golden eyes curiously. "Yeah? What?"

"This is the second time you died," he spoke at last, a smile and a frown battling at possession of his mouth. "On our first quest, during that battle at the border of camp, you really could have almost died by using so much magic to shield us all from that...well, army."

I shrugged. "Actually, I think I _wanted_ to die. Sort of." I hurried on at his look of alarm. "But then...there was you. Well, all our friends, really, but it was you I thought about. I couldn't possibly leave you all alone to take all the credit for mischief."

Zac chuckled. "But did you know if you were going to live, this time? What did Gaia tell you on Calypso's island?"

"She did, actually, in a way tell me just that," I admitted. "Now that I think of it, I shouldn't have ever once doubted that I would live. But I was just so preoccupied with Janus's annoying little prophecy."

"The choice?" he guessed, his brow clouding darkly for a long moment.

I shifted uncomfortably. "Yes. That."

"I guess it came true already," Zac ventured. "I mean, Janus got his wish-you died, in a way. But then Gaia gave you a _new_ body, which means you're still alive, but also a different person, sort of. Oh gods, I don't know if I'm making sense at all."

"You're not," I retorted frankly. "But I understand what you mean. I thought about it already."

"Speaking of which," he spoke up. "Are you thinking of holding a funeral or at least some kind of ceremony for that poor little kid in the bottle on your desk?" He nodded toward the seemingly empty glass jar sitting peacefully by my lamp. Of course, only I could really see-and only if I looked very, very closely-the shadowy ghost of a sleeping girl's face deep inside the confines of the glass.

"I don't know if you're trying to crack me up," I began as soberly as I could, but ended up giggling. "Because I already _am_ cracked up!"

His arm somehow found its way round my shoulders. I didn't resist. But just as I felt my heart starting to flutter behind my ribs, Zac pulled back.

"What?" I demanded. I certainly hoped I hadn't grown an extra nose at the last minute. I knew Aphrodite was rather pissed off by my "relationship" with her daughter Demi, but cursing me, I daresay, would be a bit...extreme.

"You're hiding something," Zac accused, which both relieved and painfully alarmed me.

I hesitated. "Is this your dad's gift of prophecy kicking in?"

"Winnie," he sighed. "I can see it on your face. It's written in perfect Greek."

I frowned. "If you're talking about the note, I really was planning to show you some-"

"Note?" he interrupted. "What note?"

It was my turn to sigh. I turned, dug out the stinking pink envelope from beneath my pillow (obviously my "sanitization" spell had worn off after a week), and handed it to him. He read it with a veritable frown.

"Why didn't you tell me right away?" demanded Zac. "All this time, and I never knew you were carrying this kind of burden!"

I snorted in an unimpressive attempt at nonchalance. "It's not a burden. She's just a pest."

"That's not what I'm saying," he insisted. "I'm Apollo's kid. And, whether I appreciate my dad or not, sometimes he gives me really useful dreams. Take last night, for example."

I shook my head. "I don't get you. How did we get to talking about dreams?"

"Because my dream was about Demi. I saw her, in a dark cave, consorting with Nemesis."

I looked at him dumbly. Then, slowly, the color drained from my cheeks. "The goddess of revenge?"

He nodded grimly.

"But w-what-tell me everything that happened!" I cried. "Why, oh, why would she go to _Nemesis_?"

"She liked your brother, didn't she?" Zac suggested darkly. "Look at the note. 'You may have Jasper, but you'll never get me.' Winnie, she really wants Jasper back."

I flew to my feet. "I have to warn Jazz! I'm sure he knows Demi. He'll know what to do. Maybe if we could-"

"Winnie."

Sighing, I sank back down on the bed as Zac pulled me closer to him.

"Winnie, there was more," he broke to me gently. "Demi was chanting a spell. She received into herself the spirit of Nemesis."

I thought I had gone deaf-no, I wished I had gone deaf. I wished my brain was malfunctioning. What was happening to me? Why could Demi not let go of her grudge? What had I ever done to her?

"Winnie, I'm sorry," Zac whispered in my ear. "I shouldn't have broken the news so abruptly to you like this."

"Well, what else could you have done?" I choked. "It's my fault. It's all my fault. If only I'd let Jasper go-if I had let you just kill me when I had Kronos in him...then this wouldn't have happened."

"Winnie!" cried Zac, shaking me by the shoulders. "What are you saying? What are you thinking? That's a lie. This is no one's fault but Demi's own. Winnie, you can't carry the weight of the sky on your shoulders. There's a reason Atlas exists. You did the best you could ever have done, and I'm proud of you."

I swallowed back the sticky tears rising in the back of my throat. After a long while, I finally mustered the courage to look up at him. I melted at the compassion in his golden eyes.

"Oh, Winnie," he breathed. He pulled me close to him and let me lean my head on his shoulder.

Suddenly I felt his breath coming closer to my face. Abruptly I glanced up; his hands caught the back of my head and pulled my face toward him. He closed his eyes and found my lips.

He'd never kissed me like this before, not even the first time. He was passionate, so gentle and caring, but pulling me into him. I submitted myself to the wave and let my arms wind themselves around his waist, and let myself kiss him back with all the emotion I had in me. I inhaled him-his smell, his love, his truth. It must have lasted only a moment, but it felt like eternity. And though I knew our troubles were not over, and though I knew I held myself responsible for many of the evils that had happened to us, for a moment I could forget that somewhere stirred forces greater and mroe vile than Kronos. I could forget that somewhere, Demi hosted the spirit of Nemesis and prepared herself for revenge.

For a moment of eternity, I could just be in heaven.

_Finis_


	22. Author's Note

_Author's Note_

I want to thank you all, my dearest fans, here on , who have given me such everlasting support. Some of you I lost contact with a long time ago, but I wish you well all the same. I am aware that Saphiye-the-Night no longer frequents this site due to a busy schedule, but I want to thank her again for her invaluable character Imani Knight, daughter of Nyx. I thank Aish Sheva as well (who is, I believe, still a somewhat active fanfic writer and beta reader) for her character Aleici, daughter of Asclepius. Most of all, a huge THANK YOU to Avalonfreak, aka Lavanya "Vanyers" the Beta Nazi, who helpfully freaked out at my best chapters and ideas, sent me excited e-mails and reviews, and gave me the best character ever, Aithne, daughter of Hestia.

I know I put up in the summary of this story _Blood Ice_ that this is the "last story" in the series, but partly due to pity for Avalonfreak and my fans, and partly due to my own unwillingness to let go of this story, I shall cheerfully peg away at a third story in Wynter Popplewell's saga!

Just a note, by the way-Kronos in Chapter 20 called our dear heroine "Wynter Galjin Koke Popplewell." Galjin Koke is "erroneously pronounced" Mongolian for "Blue Fire," since Wynter was aptly born out of blue fire. It will be explained in the third story why this middle name was chosen for Wynter, and why in such a language. (The reason is simple, really, but I like keeping fans in suspense!)

You must be wondering what the third story will be called. I've thought it over a thousand times, and I think I have finally decided on _Golden Rivers_. So, feel free to send me a review or two, and keep a sharp lookout for the first installments of _Golden Rivers_! I love you all!

Stay happy,

~The Ocean Is My Inkwell (aka Katrina Mae)

P.S. If any of you ever visit YouTube, you can view my own "trailer" for _Blood Ice_ posted on my channel. (My username is ChloePhoenix13; you can access my channel at http : / www . youtube . com / user / ChloePhoenix13 , all without the spaces.) I daresay I'm very proud of it, and Avalonfreak herself had a sneak preview of it and greatly enjoyed it. I hope you all like it, too!


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